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We all set expectations for ourselves, the standards are different yet they are made by everyone whether it is low or high expectations. Briefly, cognitive dissonance is a psychological concept that connects to one’s own expectations, it is when someone has two conflicting thoughts that could be for instance; the way you view yourself. Cognitive dissonance and one’s perspective profoundly influences why many people don't recognize that they're not meeting the standards they set for themselves. 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 …show more content…
As Tarvis says in his article, "...Recognize the siren song of self-justification"(10). Tarvis claims in his thought-provoking article the consequences of using self-justification for negative actions. Not being aware, you can lead yourself to a dead end with self-justification, like his example of the "siren song." Siren songs are part of a Greek mythology where creatures lured people on ships with their songs and lead people to their deaths. To elaborate on cognitive dissonance and what it does to a person, if one contradicts their actions with their beliefs, then tries to justify it, the consequences are a dead end, such as Tarvis mentioned the “siren song”(10).
The definition of compassion: sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others. As this definition shows compassion shows concern for other that every person would love to have. In The Chosen written by Chaim Potok, Mr. Potok really presents compassion in his book. Not only does he display compassion in one of his character but in every single one he gives them compassion that is expressed in different ways. He goes into detail example of compassion with each of his characters and really emphasizes the true meaning of compassion. Three main character that he shows compassion through in different ways are, Reuven, Mr. Malter and Reb Sanders.
In his book, An Imperfect God, Henry Wiencek argues in favor of Washington being the first true president to set the precedent for the emancipation of African-American slaves. Wiencek delves into the evil paradox of how a nation conceived on the principles of liberty and dedicated to the statement that all men are created equal was in a state that still preserved slavery for over seven decades following the construction of the nation. Washington’s grandeur estate at Mount Vernon at its peak had the upkeep of over 300 slaves 126 of which were owned by Washington. First, it must be understood that Washington was raised on slavery receiving ownership of 10 slaves at the age of 11 years old and that Washington was a man of his time. However, it must also be understood that Washington’s business with slavery was in the context of a constrained social and political environment. Weincek maintains that this does not exonerate the fact that Washington maintained slavery however; it does help to quantify the moral shortcoming by which Washington carried until his last year of life.
When taking in new information it is natural to rationalize every behavior, event or phenomenon, in order to understand that new knowledge. We want a clear, logical and reasonable explanation of why we behave like this, or think like that. However, in order to reach the goal of understanding, sometimes we make up reasons to excuse, and claim that it is the truth. In “Immune to Reality,” Daniel Gilbert believes that when we face negative situations, especially extreme negatives, we naturally build up a “psychological immune system” to protect ourselves. This system automatically organizes, then reasons in order to explain the negatives and comfort our ill feelings. This type of self-deception helps us to emotionally survive the negativity; it
In this article, the author, Esther Urdang, shows the readers how self-awareness is a necessity in the field of social work. She notes that being more self-aware protects social workers from things such as inappropriate relationships, burnout and not following necessary ethics. Urdang explains how specific casework, similarities between the client and worker, mental disability, involvement in a client’s personal life and self-disclosure can aid in developing inappropriate relationships. Towards the end of her article, she further emphasizes how social work education should focus on helping students become more secure in themselves and their experiences so they know how this affects their work (Urdang, 2010).
A strong sense of self, in the words of William Shakespeare, is “To know what we are, but not what we might be.” In the book, A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, the main character, Gene, ¬¬struggled with having a strong sense of self. His lack of identity negatively affected his life. The major consequence of his absent sense of self was his burning envy and hatred toward his extremely athletically gifted friend Finny. Gene’s lack of identity and hatred toward Finny led him to shake a limb if a tree that Finny was climbing. Finny fell and broke his leg. He later died when the bone marrow escaped into his blood. Gene’s behavior caused Finny’s death but there is reason to believe that Finny would have died anyway. For example, Finny could have been killed in the army, Finny’s lack of caution caused him to break his leg again, and the branch would have broken since it was already weak causing Finny to fall and die.
“Without Conscience" by Robert D. Hare is one aimed towards making the general public aware of the many psychopaths that inhabit the world we live in. Throughout the book Hare exposes the reader to a number of short stories; all with an emphasis on a characteristic of psychopaths. Hare makes the claim that close monitoring of psychopathy are vital if we ever hope to gain a hold over Psychopathy- A disorder that affects not only the individual but also society itself. He also indicates one of the reasons for this book is order to correctly treat these individuals we have to be able to correctly identify who meets the criteria. His ultimate goal with the text is to alleviate some of the confusion in the increase in criminal activity by determining how my of this is a result of Psychopathy.
The point the author, Russell Baker, is making in his essay, “Writing for Myself,” is quite evident. When Mr. Fleagle, Baker’s English teacher, assigned an informal essay to be completed as homework, Baker immediately became baffled by the daunting task. Though reluctant to start, Baker knew that it he had to swallow his animosity toward writing and select a topic to write on.
Cognitive dissonance makes it difficult for people to accept conflicting new ideas. Conflicting beliefs create discomfort
Cooper, Joel. Cognitive Dissonance: Fifty Years of a Classic Theory. Los Angeles: SAGE, 2007. Print
Dissonance would be caused if you put in a lot of effort to accomplish something and then valued it negatively. Someone could dedicate so much time and energy into completing something, but the ending results be garbage, to escape dissonance, that person may attempt to convince themselves that the work wasn’t really that long and or hard, and that you actual enjoyed the work. This method of reducing dissonance is called effort justification. Aronson and Mills demonstrated a classic dissonance experiment, to investigate the relationship between dissonance and effort. In the experiment, female students volunteered to be involved in a discussion on the psychology of sex. The mild embarrassment condition read to the male experimenter out loud sex-related words like “virgin” and “prostitute.” The severe embarrassment condition had to read very explicit sexual passage and filthy words out loud. The control condition went right into the main study. All conditions listened to boring discussion about sex in lower animals. At the end the females were asked to rate how interesting the discussion was and the people involved. The most positive rating came from the severe embarrassment condition. The experiment showed if a voluntary experience that requires a good deal of effort, but does not turn out good, by redefining the experience as interesting will reduce dissonance, justifying the effort
While people deal with everyday life, a plethora of events is occurring throughout the day. Most people usually do a multitude of actions to resolve these events without thinking as well. This can be anything from trying to get to class as soon as possible, talking to someone that recently was introduced, or doing a kind of tradition at a football game. Cognitive Biases is defined as a systematic pattern of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment, whereby inferences about other people and situations may be drawn in an illogical fashion. This article will talk about a small sample of these situations and clarify what the meaning behind them. It shall discuss Negativity Bias, Confirmation Bias, Gamblers Fallacy, and Illusion of Control
The way I would describe cognitive dissonance is contradicting with two different ideas or more. There could be a set of believe but then this could be broken when something else comes along. This can go different ways either by sticking with their first idea, reducing one idea or changing to the other idea.
The most obvious is the way my two thoughts on whether I should stay at school or go see my family are conflicting and causing me dissonance and me trying to reduce dissonance. Another clear point is the reason for my decision. This reason is one Festinger calls the Personal Responsibility for Bad Outcomes. One reason I chose to go to Terre Haute with my mom is because I knew if I told her that I didn’t want to go that, not only would it hurt her feelings, but she would be disappointed in me. Knowing that I made my mom feel bad would make me feel very guilty and I could not handle being responsible for that. Cognitive Dissonance would say that I reduced my dissonance by changing the importance of staying at school. I reduced the postdecision dissonance I felt by adding consonant elements to the choice I
“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.
In the article “What makes us moral” by Jeffrey Kluger, he describes how morality is defined and how the people follow rules. Kluger discusses about scientific research that has been done to point out the important reasons of morality. Kluger explains that a person’s decision to do something good or bad is based on empathy, that humans tend not to do bad to those they sympathize with. Kluger also compares humans with animals and thinks that morality is the only thing that separates us from animals. I do agree with Kluger that people are born with a sense of right and wrong, but we should be taught how to use it. We learned to be nicer to those around us because we already know the type of person they are, and the morality we learned as children