Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is a term used in modern psychology to describe the feeling of discomfort when simultaneously holding two or more conflicting thoughts: ideas, beliefs, values or emotional reactions. In a state of dissonance, people may sometimes feel "disequilibrium": frustration, hunger, dread, guilt, anger, embarrassment, anxiety, etc.

Dissonance is aroused when people are confronted with information that is inconsistent with their beliefs. If the dissonance is not reduced by changing one's belief, the dissonance can result in restoring consonance through misperception, rejection or refutation of the information, seeking support from others who share the beliefs, and attempting to persuade others.

A person will avoid situations or information sources that give rise to feelings of uneasiness, or dissonance.

People have a bias to seek consonance between their expectations and reality. People engage in a process termed "dissonance reduction", which can be achieved in one of three ways:

(1) lowering the importance of one of the discordant factors,

(2) adding consonant elements,

(3) or changing one of the dissonant factors.

This bias sheds light on otherwise puzzling, irrational, and even destructive behavior.

Leon Festinger, who first coined the term "cognitive dissonance" related an account of the followers of a UFO cult as reality clashed with their fervent belief in an impending apocalypse. The surprising result was that after the failed prophecy the cult members' faith deepened. The believers met at a pre-determined place and time, believing they alone would survive the Earth's destruction. The appointed time came and passed without incident. They faced acute cognitive dissonance: had they been the victim of a hoax? Had they donated their worldly possessions in vain? Most members chose to believe something less dissonant to resolve reality not meeting their expectations: they believed that the aliens had given earth a second chance, and the group was now empowered to spread the word that earth-spoiling must stop. The group dramatically increased their proselytism despite the failed prophecy.

Smoking is a common example of cognitive dissonance because it is widely accepted that cigarettes can cause lung cancer, and smokers must reconcile their habit with the desire to live long and healthy lives. In terms of the cognitive dissonance theory, the desire to live a long life is dissonant with the activity of doing something that is likely to shorten one's life. The tension produced by these contradictory ideas can be reduced by any number of changes in cognitions and behaviors, including quitting smoking, denying evidence linking smoking to lung cancer, or justifying one's smoking through rationalization. For example, smokers could rationalize their behavior by concluding that only a few smokers become ill, that it only happens to very heavy smokers, or that if smoking does not kill them, something else will.

Cognitive dissonance also results in people reading information that affirms their already established opinions, rather than referencing material that contradicts them. For example, a person who is politically conservative will only read newspapers and watch news commentary that is from conservative news sources. This bias appears to be particularly apparent when faced with deeply held beliefs, i.e., when a person has 'high commitment' to his or her attitudes.

- adapted from Wikipedia