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Cognitive Dissonance: Difference between revisions
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=Examples= | =Examples= | ||
==''The Fox and the Grapes''== | |||
A classic illustration of cognitive dissonance is expressed in the fable "''The Fox and the Grapes''", pne of "Aesop's Fables". In the story, a fox sees some high-hanging grapes and wants to eat them. When the fox can't think of a way to get to them, he decides that the grapes are probably not worth eating, with the justification the grapes probably are not ripe or that they are sour (from which we get the common phrase "sour grapes"). | |||
This example follows a pattern: one desires something, finds it unattainable, and reduces one's dissonance by criticizing it. | |||
==UFO Cult== | ==UFO Cult== | ||
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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. | 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. | ||
Smokers may alter their belief about the dangers of smoking by telling themselves that they "''know a 70 year old man who has smoked since he was a teenager and is still very healthy''". Or a person could believe that smoking keeps one from gaining weight, which would also be unhealthy. | |||
Other smokers just don't read anything about the dangers of smoking, so that they don't have to think about the negative consequences of their decision to smoke. That is one of the reasons that some governments require warning labels to be printed on all cigarette packaging. | |||
=Dissonance Reduction= | =Dissonance Reduction= | ||