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Assumptions of cognitive dissonance theory
Assumptions of cognitive dissonance theory
Assumptions of cognitive dissonance theory
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Cognitive dissonance can be described as the feeling of discomfort resulting from holding two conflicting beliefs. It can also be said to be the mental conflict that occurs when beliefs or assumptions are contradicted by new information. A well-known psychologist Leon Festinger (1919–89), introduced this concept in the late 1950s where he proved that, when confronted with challenging new information; most people are observed to preserve their current understanding of the world by rejecting or avoiding the new information or by convincing themselves that no conflict really exists in one way or the other (Festinger, 04).
Cognitive dissonance is a communication theory mostly used in the field of social psychology in providing a theoretical framework in dealing with various issues relating to psychology. The title provides us with the concept that cognitive is thinking while dissonance is the inconsistency or conflict brought about. Cognitive dissonance manifests when one holds two or more incompatible beliefs simultaneously. This theory has been used and applied in several disciplines including communication, due to its simplicity and straightforwardness. The theory is commonly applied in these dynamic fields since it replaces previous conditioning or reinforcement theories by viewing individuals as more purposeful decision makers striving to acquire a balance in their beliefs. Cognitions are chunks or bits of knowledge which can pertain to any variety of values, emotions or values. These cognations can be related to one another or they can also be completely independent from each other (Cooper, 06). For instance, one may like to eat junk food, but may also be trying to lose weight. The two cognitions are related to each other in tha...
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... information, it is clear that cognitive dissonance is a common occurrence to all individuals and no one has control over it. All individuals strive towards reducing the effects it may have on their activities and on their mind. The environment that children are brought up should be controlled because as seen here it plays a role in shaping the beliefs they hold on.
WORK CITED:
Cooper, Joel. Cognitive Dissonance: Fifty Years of a Classic Theory. Los Angeles: SAGE, 2007. Print
Festinger, Leon. A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press, 1997. Print.
Fritsch, Anna-Sophia. Religiosity, Cognitive Dissonance and Attitude. S.l.: Grin Verlag, 2013. Print.
Kegley, Charles W. World Politics: Trend and Transformation. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2008. Print.
Reeve, Johnmarshall. Understanding Motivation and Emotion. 5th ed. John Wiley & Sons, 2008.
American social psychologist and original developer of the theory of Cognitive Dissonance Leon Festinger breaks down his theory into two main parts. First, the presence of dissonance, inconsistency or unpleasantness, will psychologically motivate a person to achieve consonance, consistency or pleasantness (Festinger 3). Psychologist Elliot Aronson, key researcher in the 20th century of this theory, expands on the definition of dissonance to be more straightforward. Dissonance occurs when a person holds two ideas, beliefs, or opinions at the same time that are contradictory with one and other. Part two of the theory states that a person will attempt to avoid situations or knowledge that would possibly or pro...
Cognitive dissonance is when an individual feels uncomfortable because they are a good person but they have chose to do a bad things. Instead of dealing with the consequences they ignore the situation. Cognitive dissonance can relate to Lords of the flies book on Chapter 9. The morning after the boys killed Simon thinking it was the
One study done by Leon Festinger in 1957 demonstrates the desire to resolve cognitive dissonance. In this experiment, participants had to perform a series of extremely boring tasks, such as putting spools of thread into a box, dumping them out, and then putting them back in for half an hour and turning wooden knobs (that performed no action other than turning) quarter turns until they were all turned, and then starting back at the beginning and turning them all another quarter turn until the “end” of the study. After the participants were finished with their deliberately boring task, they were asked to lie to the next set of participants (actually just confederates) and were offered either one dollar or twenty dollars to tell them that the study was exciting and enjoyable. This task created cognitive dissonance, which can also occur when reading Science Fiction. After the participants lied, they were asked to honestly rate the task they performed. Surprisingly, the participants who were paid less rated the experiment more highly than those who were paid more. The explanation behind this is that the participants who were paid more cold justify their lie with the fact that they got twenty for it, thus resolving the cognitive dissonance. On
Barnett, C. B. (2014, January). Skepticism: The Regress Problem. Paper presented at St. John Fisher College, Rochester, NY.
Decisions are the basis of human history, advancement, and modern society. Important decisions often cause a conflict within a person as he or she attempts to make a choice based on what he or she believes is right, as well as what he or she believes is wise. Throughout life and society, people find themselves at a crossroads of beliefs or thoughts with the justification of murder. This is due to the dissonance illustrated when they have mixed feelings with the idea that killing another human is wrong, although it seemingly appears unavoidable in certain situations. This inevitability is what justifies murder in the first place. These mixed feelings create a cognitive dissonance that impacts society in a detrimental manner because people in society care less about people being murdered due to the simple and common justification behind it.
...per, J. (2007). Cognitive Dissonance: In the Beginning. Cognitive dissonance fifty years of a classic theory (pp. 1-10). Los Angeles: SAGE.
According to Green (1959), “Festinger proposed a theory concerning cognitive dissonance…the present experiment was to design this derivation under controlled, laboratory conditions.” In this experiment, students at Standford University that were in psychology classes were the subjects. The subjects were instructed to perform a boring tedious task. Afterword, they were asked to tell the next subject that the task they did was fun. Some subjects were paid a dollar, and the rest of the subjects were paid twenty dollars to lie to the next subject. In this paper, which subjects experienced cognitive dissonance, how they experience cognitive dissonance, and personal examples of cognitive dissonance will be discussed.
“Humans are not a rational animal, but a rationalizing one” (“Class 20”). This was asserted by the much acclaimed, significant, and influential social psychologist Leon Festinger as referencing to his theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Social psychology is “a branch of psychology particularly concerned with understanding social behaviors such as” incentive and compliance (Sheehy). Festinger’s contributions to the social and cognitive branches of psychology as well psychology overall prove themselves worthy to today. This theory specifically challenged many common notions that were seemingly already accepted by behaviorists everywhere during his time (Tavris and Aronson). Its reality awakens its verifications. Consecutively, its “enormous motivational power” affects many on a daily basis (Tavris and Aronson). In the final analysis, the theory of Cognitive Dissonance by Leon Festinger is fundamental to behaviorism while directly changing the way human beings across the planet think and do.
Cognitive dissonance protects one’s self-esteem and as people, one does not like to admit their mistakes. In addition, it reduces regret and embarrassment which gives people an optimistic outlook. Although there are benefits, unfortunately there are also costs. For instance, once someone has
Individuals identify with only one side of an internal conflict, the Gestalt process assumes that becoming attuned to both sides and claiming ownership of both views can result in resolving difficulties without force, with naturally unfolding solutions. In thinking of problems as a whole, Max Wertheimer (Miller, 1975) considered cognition to occur in productive and reproductive ways. Productive cognition is problem solving with insight, a simultaneous, insightful response to situati...
Cognitive dissonance is at the heart of all spirituality. There is a need for humans to have a belief in something bigger than ourselves. Civilizations have a need for structure and stability to help them thrive, at the heart of all civilizations is religion. There is danger in having absolute faith and very thin line between spiritual beliefs and a dangerous cults. If someone is under stress, they fight even harder to hold onto their belief as outlandish or different it maybe. The cause of Conative dissonance if the difference between the faith one person holds and the reality around them.
Over six million individuals were killed in the Holocaust during World War II in Germany. To this day, people still wonder how an entire country could stand by while millions of people were massacred. Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) and Zimbardo (1971) both conducted experiments that involved cognitive dissonance, which helped explain how good people could be persuaded to do bad things. Cognitive dissonance is a feeling of discomfort that occurs when an individual’s actions are inconsistent with his behavior (Festinger & Carlsmith, 1959). To reduce this tension, an individual often changes his/her attitude to align with his or behavior (Festinger & Carlsmith, 1959). The results of both of these prominent studies provided valuable clinical information regarding the impact of cognitive dissonance that is still
When inconsistency is found in behavior or environment, it causes individuals to either change self or adjust their analysis to achieve balance (Larson, C., 2013, p. 219). Furthermore, it is important for target receivers to understand, recognize and predict factors that construct lack of balance and lack of consistency (Larson, C., 2013, p. 219). For example, an effective persuader will pinpoint the target receiver’s standards for judging or deciding and devise dissimilarities that arouse discomfort motivating a change in perspective (Larson, C., 2013, p. 219).
Cognitive Dissonance is a state of discomfort resulting after an individual recognizes an inconsistency between their attitude and behavior or multiples attitudes. ( Baron and Branscombe, 169) It most often occurs when forced compliance is involved as well as when a person states something they do not truly believe, reject an object the person finds compelling, or find out an investment was not worth investing. (Baron and Branscombe, 169) Dissonance can lead to attitude change when the less-leads-to-more effect is applied. A person barely given enough reward to participate in counterattitudinal behavior produce greater attitude changes compared to ones receiving larger reward. This effect is due to the belief that the participants were more responsible for the actions and the negative effects resulting from their actions. (Baron and Branscombe, 170) Cognitive dissonance can be reduced via direct and indirect methods. Direct methods focus on altering the attitude and behavior inconsistency that causes the dissonance and indirect methods adopt external tactics to distract the individual from the dissonance (Baron and Branscombe, 171)
I surmise from the readings that decades of research, debate, and concept refinement have made cognitive dissonance one of the most widely accepted ideas in Social Psychology. The significance that cognitive dissonance has in our life is highlighted by reactions that are internal processes, which respond to external experiences that we face. And, when this external pressure that emerges from social interactions differs from our own “private opinion,” then dissonance and cognitive inconsistency prevails. Moreover, cognitive dissonance can be viewed as a motivational element in which people seek to implement dissonance-reduction through a number of ways that include shifting one’s thinking so that the behavior can be aligned with the belief and by reducing the conflicting cognition. Thus, cognitive dissonance helps us to understand the external and internal process of the individual in a group setting or in intrapersonal dynamic. It can help explain and make s sense of a wide range of ordinary and even extraordinary events in people social