At the conclusion of the study, subjects were asked to rate the tedious tasks. The subjects paid one dollar ($1) rated the tasks more positively than did the subjects in the twenty-dollar ($20) or control groups. The responses of the paid subjects were evidence of cognitive dissonance. The subjects in the paid groups experienced dissonance due to inconsistencies between their attitudes and behavior. The subjects’ believed the tasks to be boring, but they told the confederate that the tasks were interesting. However, the one-dollar group rated the tasks positively, while the twenty-dollar group rated the tasks negatively.

Averse consequences vs. inconsistency

It’s normal to feel uncomfortable when you have to “unlearn” this information or open your mind to allow different theories to enter. It’s not unusual to feel that one or more of your teachers may be wrong or maybe even turn some of the blame on yourself. People often resist or fight back if they are being taught new information that goes against what they already know or believe. This is cognitive dissonance, and the only way to have a successful education experience is to face these feelings head-on and keep learning. Cognitive dissonance is the state of mind that occurs when you are simultaneously entertaining two or more opposite ideas. This situation is stressful for your brain, so it wants to quickly pick an option to resolve the conflict.

What is the difference between cognitive dissonance theory and balance theory?

More aimed at advanced researchers in cognitive dissonance, Harmon-Jones 2019 (the second edition of Harmon-Jones and Mills 1999) is an edited volume that synthesizes modern perspectives on dissonance. To resolve cognitive dissonance, a person can aim to ensure that their actions are consistent with their values or vice versa. The internal discomfort and tension of cognitive dissonance could contribute to stress or unhappiness. People who experience dissonance but have no way to resolve it may also feel powerless or guilty.

Balance theory

But because we want the benefits of presenting ourselves a certain way, we don’t mind the inconsistency in our behavior. Dr. Stacey Diane Arañez Litam (she, her, siya) is a licensed professional clinical counselor and supervisor, a national certified counselor, a certified clinical mental health counselor, as well as a board-certified diplomate and sexologist. She is an immigrant and identifies as a Chinese and Filipina American woman. Her clinical work, research expertise https://ecosoberhouse.com/ and advocacy for supporting BIPOC communities, LGBTQ+ folx, as well as human sex trafficking survivors have garnered national praise and notoriety. She is an actively involved member of each of her intersecting communities and she is passionate about ensuring that culturally responsive content is accessible for all organizations in need. When you discover new information and you’re faced with the uncomfortable decision to … well, make decisions, embrace a positive outlook.

• This incompatibility (dissonance) can happen when you do something that goes against one of your values.
• The mild initiation group did not invest as much to listen to the discussion, so when they found it to be boring they did not feel cheated.
• Cognitive dissonance is the discomfort a person feels when their behavior does not align with their values or beliefs.
• Her clinical work, research expertise and advocacy for supporting BIPOC communities, LGBTQ+ folx, as well as human sex trafficking survivors have garnered national praise and notoriety.
• It feels good knowing you’re able to uphold certain values, like the ones you learned from your parents and caregivers or the ones you’ve carved out for yourself based on your own personal experiences.

The theory behind cognitive dissonance

Learn to bridge the gap between values and actions to combat cognitive dissonance. Learn practical realignment and personal growth steps that will help create positive change. By bringing attention to the inconsistencies in our minds, cognitive dissonance may present an opportunity for growth. People who feel it could realize, for example, that they need to update their beliefs to reflect the truth, or change their behavior to better match the person they want to be. There are a variety of ways people are thought to resolve the sense of dissonance when cognitions don’t seem to fit together. They may include denying or compartmentalizing unwelcome thoughts, seeking to explain away a thought that doesn’t comport with others, or changing what one believes or one’s behavior.

• The combination of environmental protection norm salience and the recall of environmentally harmful behaviours should induce cognitive dissonance (Priolo et al., 2016).
• Once the subjects had done the tasks, the experimenters asked some subjects to speak with another new subject about the tasks.
• According to Festinger, there are a few ways that a person might resolve this dissonance.
• As most cognitive dissonance paradigms are likely to induce other emotions, it may be more pertinent to distinctively assess the nature of the psychological discomfort involved in the CDS.
• Once you’ve rationalized your decision, you’re now very likely to stick by and protect that belief – even if someone uses evidence to prove you wrong.

Concerning arousal, contrary to our hypothesis, neither Study 1 nor Study 2 have shown a significant effect of the CDS on participants’ reports of arousal. Given the strength of supporting evidence linking cognitive dissonance and addiction to arousal in the literature, this absence is peculiar. The successful detection of increased negative valence in both studies, as well as attitude change in Study 2, make us believe that the inductions should have been sufficient to evoke arousal.

• We may feel as if the effort was a waste or that we were cheated out of our payoff.
• You may make a conscious effort to choose nutritious foods, try to avoid processed foods and soda, and shoot for eight hours of sleep every night.
• If a woman reads that her favorite politician has done something immoral, she could conclude that the charges have been invented by his enemies—or, instead, rethink her support.
• The idea is, choosing something that is in opposition to how you feel or believe in will increase cognitive dissonance.
• His research on what causes cognitive dissonance and how we react to it has become critical to the fields of social psychology and psychiatry.

But our actions don’t always line up with what we think of ourselves. Sometimes, when you’re faced with difficult decisions in the moment, it’s best to take a break and revisit it later when all parties have processed what’s happened. This is especially true if you’re caught up in a toxic work environment.

• The tasks were designed to induce a strong, negative, mental attitude in the subjects.
• Disposing of trash outside, even when knowing this is against the law, wrong, and is harmful for the environment, is a prominent example of cognitive dissonance, especially if the person feels bad after littering but continues to do so.
• A second limitation of previous studies is that there is very little evidence supporting the view that the assessed negative affect is the same across all paradigms.
• When you’re stressed or anxious, you could affect your overall mental, emotional and physical health.
• The predictive dissonance account is highly compatible with the action-motivation model since, in practice, prediction error can arise from unsuccessful behavior.
• Festinger argued that cognitive dissonance is more intense when a person holds many dissonant views and those views are important to them.

Understanding your beliefs and values behind the inconsistencies is an opportunity to develop deeper self-knowledge. In that sense, the experience of cognitive dissonance is an opportunity to learn and grow, as long as we deal with it constructively and respond in a way that we choose and is beneficial. Technological advances are allowing psychologists to study the biomechanics of cognitive dissonance. The COVID-19 pandemic, an extreme public health crisis, cases rose to the hundred million and deaths at nearly four million worldwide.

How to Recognize Cognitive Dissonance to Help You Make Better Decisions — and Better Yourself

For example, if you engage in a behavior that you later learn is harmful, it can lead to feelings of discomfort. People sometimes deal with this by finding ways to justify their behaviors or findings ways to discredit or ignore new information. Everyone experiences cognitive dissonance in some form in their life. It’s more common to feel discomfort and to feel like you need to resolve the dissonance when cognitions are important to you or they conflict heavily with each other.