What Is Cognitive Dissonance? Definition and Examples

To reduce this feeling of imbalance, individuals may change their attitude or behavior to regain the feeling of consistency. This article explores cognitive dissonance theory and discusses a situation in which it was used to produce effective and lasting change in a nursing work unit. Although it was first introduced through psychology, the theory of cognitive dissonance has become very important in the communications world. In public relations getting the audience to change their behaviors or attitudes is arguably the most important part of the job. As a public relations person, it is his or her responsibility to provide the target audience with information. Oftentimes this information is contradicting to the person’s preconceived believes or behaviors.

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• It was a pretty interesting task after all.’ Your beliefs have changed, and so you feel better because they are now in alignment with your actions.
• Relevant items of information include a person’s actions, feelings, ideas, beliefs, values, and things in the environment.
• Public relations experts face challenges with persuading an audience to do or feel things, so it is essential for them to have a grasp on cognitive dissonance in order to be successful in this industry.
• As a result, they experience intense anxiety or a state of tension or other physiological symptoms which indicate that there is a change in the inner system.

For example, when individuals consider themselves helpful, kind or generous, refusing to participate is incompatible with their self-perception. According to dissonance theory, self-esteem is threatened by inconsistency. Holding beliefs that are logically or ‘psychologically’ inconsistent, i.e., dissonant, with one another is uncomfortable. For example, suppose a student agrees to a request to write an essay in favor of a tuition increase at her school. Her knowledge that she is opposed to a tuition increase is dissonant with her knowledge that she agreed to write an essay in favor of a tuition increase. One way to reduce this threatening dissonance is for the student to change her attitude to be more in favor of a tuition increase. Mismatches between your beliefs and actions can lead to feelings of discomfort , but such feelings can also sometimes lead to change and growth.

History of Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Signs of cognitive dissonance can include anxiety and general discomfort. One may also feel an urge to acquire additional beliefs to help rationalize one’s actions despite the action not matching one’s values. Recognition of inconsistency causes dissonance – If you don’t recognize that your actions and beliefs are out of alignment, then you won’t experience cognitive dissonance. But once you realize that cognitive dissonance theory you’ve lied, and that you think lying is bad, you are uncomfortable with the feeling of dissonance that occurs. The anterior cingulate cortex activity increases when errors occur and are being monitored as well as having behavioral conflicts with the self-concept as a form of higher-level thinking. A study was done to test the prediction that the left frontal cortex would have increased activity.

These advertisements are all around us, and there’s no way to avoid them entirely. “It takes conscious effort on our part to be aware of the advertising lures and to separate the urge and desire from the practical and wise choice one should usually make,” Noulas says. And even though it can be uncomfortable, it’s not necessarily something that you can avoid, explains Paraskevi Noulas, PsyD, a clinical assistant professor at NYU Langone Health in New York City. And sometimes we find ourselves doing things or thinking things that are completely contradictory to our values — or what we thought we always believed. Have you experienced unease when walking by someone who is homeless and not opening up your wallet — even though you feel like they do deserve help?

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Because it’s impossible to go back in time and change your behavior, the only thing you can change is your attitude. At the time that Festinger proposed it, his theory was revolutionary because it suggested that people sometimes act and then form an opinion, instead of forming an opinion and then acting on it. In other words, Festinger said, humans have a tendency to rationalize their actions to alleviate cognitive dissonance.

There are three ways to reduce cognitive dissonance, including a change of beliefs, a change of action, and a change in how one perceives one’s action. One can change one’s beliefs by adding new information or beliefs, reducing the emotional weight placed on their beliefs, or simply changing their beliefs altogether. Changing one’s behaviors is one way to reduce cognitive dissonance, but if one is feeling unease about an action that has already been performed, one must pursue one of the other two routes. Finally, a person can reinterpret their action so that it is not in tension with their beliefs. 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.

What Causes Cognitive Dissonance?

The effects may relate to the discomfort of the dissonance itself or the defense mechanisms a person adopts to deal with it. Cognitive dissonance occurs when a person holds two related but contradictory cognitions, or thoughts.

Although there is no intention of harm, people still need to be cognizant of their own cognitive dissonance in relation to when they are communicating with others. It’s impossible to avoid cognitive dissonance entirely, but reducing or resolving it helps you get over that mental stress and tension. “In any instance where our beliefs are inconsistent, we essentially have a really profound psychic discomfort and we must act in a way that resolves that conflict,” Dr. Johnson says.

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Simply being more aware of how your thoughts and actions fit together can help you better understand what’s important to you, even if you don’t eliminate the dissonance. You don’t want to move, but your partner is excited about the promotion and you want them to be happy. Little by little, you begin to consider the pros of living in a small town. Every time you see the membership tag on your keychain, it reminds you of that pesky truth — that exercise is part of a healthy lifestyle. You tell yourself it’s OK since you’re taking care of your health in other ways. You still feel guilty, though, because you know it’s important to be active.

• The more good options you have or the more alike the options are, the more cognitive dissonance you’ll experience.
• At a hippodrome, bettors had more confidence in their horses after the betting than before.
• So, college women who write letters to junior high school girls promoting the importance of having a healthy body image, later on, develop more positive attitudes about their own bodies.
• In the control group, the participants evaluated the completed task and then left.

When we do this by thinking up positives for our choice and negatives for the other option, it’s called the “spreading of alternatives.” Your brain feels better when you can align your behavior with your values. One example of cognitive dissonance would be believing that bumper cars https://ecosoberhouse.com/ are immature and then riding in the bumper car with one’s younger sibling. Another example would be thinking that attending classes is useless but then showing up regularly. Each of these examples at least could involve discomfort from the tension between one’s beliefs and actions.

Indeed, the influence of dissonance theory went far beyond the field of social psychology. The term dissonance has since become incorporated into the English vernacular. Cognitive dissonance plays a role in many value judgments, decisions, and evaluations. Becoming aware of how conflicting beliefs impact the decision-making process is a great way to improve your ability to make faster and more accurate choices.