Fighting Cognitive Dissonance & The Lies We Tell Ourselves
In their laboratory experiment, they used 71 male students as participants to perform a series of dull tasks (such as turning pegs in a peg board for an hour). When someone is forced to do (publicly) something they (privately) really don’t want to do, dissonance is created between their cognition (I didn’t want to do this) and their behavior (I did it). So, for instance, a vegan who fosters baby animals and volunteers at a local shelter might experience a whole lot more stress by eating meat then let’s say someone who always talks about exercise yet never gets off the couch. Way back in 1957, psychologist Leon Festinger coined the term after what would become a groundbreaking experiment.
- By Kendra Cherry, MSEd
Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the “Everything Psychology Book.”
- This clash of beliefs and disruption of thought can also occur if you have two or more conflicting beliefs and you’re torn between them.
- Also, speaking up for another person could improve a group or culture overall.
- It can be tough to recognize and address dissonance, but it’s an important step to improving your overall wellness.
When we change our behaviors to line up with our values, the dissonance goes away. You don’t have to be perfect to be moving in a good direction; what matters most is that you’re putting in effort to live the way that you believe you should be. It was hypothesized that participants in the Counter-attitudinal condition would experience less Pleasure and more Arousal than participants in the Pro-attitudinal condition. As a classic result in dissonance studies, they were also expected to report more positive attitudes toward the counterattitudinal topic.
There are a number of different situations that can create conflicts that lead to cognitive dissonance. My desire to smoke was powerful, but at the same time I was afraid of trying it. Psychologist Leon Festinger published the book A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance in 1957.
People attempt to relieve this tension in different ways, such as by rejecting, explaining away, or avoiding new information. It provides an introduction to the theory and covers the topics of cognitive dissonance following decisions, the effects of forced compliance, the impacts of voluntary and involuntary exposure to information, and the role of social support. Discrepancy between an attitude and a behavior – eating a doughnut while thinking of reducing calorie intake – leads to psychological discomfort called cognitive dissonance (Harmon-Jones, 2019). The theory is based on the idea that two cognitions can be relevant or irrelevant to each other (Festinger, 1957). Such cognitions can be about behaviors, perceptions, attitudes, emotions, and beliefs. If the cognitions are relevant, they can be in agreement (consistent) or disagreement (inconsistent) with one another (Festinger, 1957).
Cognitive Dissonance
Combined together, our two studies show that the CDS induced in the hypocrisy and counterattitudinal paradigms is first and foremost characterised by increased negative valence, as captured presently by the Pleasure dimension. Our studies did not find evidence of a role for Arousal or Dominance change, which suggest that these characteristic are less defining features of the dissonance state. While the sensitivity of the PAD scale seems moderate in regards to our results, we believe that cognitive dissonance scholars should continue the last house sober living and recovery community to reconnect with general models of emotion to investigate the CDS. In our opinion, these studies are valuable as the psychological discomfort is supposed to be the core of the theory and the mediator of all cognitive dissonance. In this context, further studies investigating the nature and characteristics of the CDS will be informative and will help understanding the processes behind cognitive dissonance. Leon Festinger first proposed the theory of cognitive dissonance, centered on how people try to reach internal consistency.
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Instead of feeling defensive, dig into the information that your response gives you. Understanding what caused the dissonance can help you figure out the best way to address it. Cognitive bias is the tendency to process information in the light of our own experiences. Our brains rely on patterns, 1 year sobriety gift 60+ gift ideas for 2023 past experiences, and mental shortcuts to process information quickly. That means that when we take in new information, we don’t interpret it objectively. In one study, researchers asked participants to give speeches that would encourage the audience to take a certain positive action.
Festinger’s original theory did not seek to explain how dissonance works. It proposes that inconsistencies in a person’s cognition cause mental stress because psychological inconsistency interferes with the person’s functioning in the real world. If the person changes the current attitude, after the dissonance occurs, they are then obligated to commit to that course of behavior.
Matz and his colleagues (2008) showed that our personality can help mediate the effects of cognitive dissonance. They found that people who were extraverted were less likely to feel the negative impact of cognitive dissonance and were also less likely to change their mind. Introverts, on the other hand, experienced increased dissonance discomfort and were more likely to change their attitude to match the majority of others in the experiment. People may run into problems with cognitive dissonance because it can be, in its most basic form, a sort of lie to oneself. As with all lies, it depends on the size of the lie and whether it’s more likely to hurt you in some way in the long run.
What Festinger’s theory showed was that people need consistency between their attitudes and behaviors—even though achieving that balance isn’t always accomplished in a rational way. What the experiment showed was that the subjects paid $1 experienced dissonance. Because $1 wasn’t enough to warrant lying so they, in effect, convinced themselves that the task was actually enjoyable. Whereas, because the $20 group believed the amount was enough to lie, they didn’t experience dissonance. Some people cope with having contradictory beliefs or information by blocking them out and numbing themselves with drugs and alcohol.
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In 1956, psychologist Jack Brehm observed that when people are given a choice between two similar items, they tend to believe that the item they chose is objectively better. This became known as the “free-choice paradigm.” If the items were basically equal, people would begin to invent “advantages” for the one they chose. For example, a person may have to do something they disagree with at work. Athletes say developing mental fortitude and resilience is key to success. Coaches, trainers, and sports psychologists say it’s time to get better at … Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is an evidence-based talk therapy that can reduce the risk of depression relapse.
How We Approach Our Cognitive Dissonance Has an Impact on Us
Many people seem able to cope with considerable dissonance and not experience the tensions the theory predicts. There has been a great deal of research into cognitive dissonance, providing some interesting and sometimes unexpected findings. However, new information such as “research has not proved definitely that smoking causes lung cancer” may reduce the dissonance.
People like to believe that they are logical, consistent, and good at making decisions. Cognitive dissonance can interfere with the perceptions they hold about themselves and their abilities, which is why it can often feel so uncomfortable and unpleasant. The degree of dissonance experienced can depend on a few different factors.
Cognitive dissonance
If your explanation for something is, “Well, that’s the way I’ve always done it or thought about it,” that may also be a sign. Socrates extolled that “An unexamined life is not worth living.” In other words, challenge and be skeptical of such answers if you find yourself falling back on them. We also don’t like to second-guess our choices, even if later they are proven wrong or unwise.
If they are part of a wider problem that is causing distress, people may benefit from speaking with a therapist. To resolve cognitive dissonance, a person can aim to ensure that their actions are consistent with their values or vice versa. For example, a small 2019 study notes that dissonance-based interventions may be helpful for people with eating disorders.
What is cognitive dissonance?
After reading the reports about the various products, individuals rated the products again. Female participants were informed they would be helping out in a study funded by several manufacturers. Participants were also told that they would receive one of the products at the end of the experiment to compensate for their time and effort. Cognitive dissonance can be problematic art therapy for addiction if you start to justify or rationalize destructive behaviors. Or if you start to majorly stress yourself out by trying to rationalize the dissonance. Let’s say you’ve been exercising like a boss—paying for virtual training sessions, jogging through your ‘hood, conquering any hiking trail within a five-mile radius—and eating healthy, all in a quest to drop that quarantine 15.
And sometimes reducing the dissonance can be as easy as reframing your thinking. “It depends on the immediacy of the situation and whether or not there’s any way to resolve it, but sometimes, new information can lead to action,” says Dr. Prewitt. Set healthy boundaries from the beginning and reinstate them if someone crosses a line. By being assertive about your values, you can minimize continued conflict from the start but also empower yourself to hold that space for your needs. “You’re more likely to feel guilty if you’re doing something that goes against your values,” notes Dr. Prewitt.
