3 Ways to Overcome Cognitive Dissonance

It has the advantage of being testable by scientific means (i.e., experiments). For example, when people smoke (behavior) and they know that smoking causes cancer (cognition), they are in a state of cognitive dissonance. While it can be uncomfortable, learning to manage dissonance can lead to personal growth and improved mental well-being. It can help to view the situation you’re in from the outside, stepping back so you can see the big picture. “Give equal weight to how others experience you, and using others as a mirror, begin to identify places where your belief systems and behavior do not align,” Curry says. “Then ask yourself why you behaved as you behaved.” This can help you see how you got into the situation and hopefully you can see a way to resolve it.

What Is Cognitive Dissonance?

The opposite of cognitive dissonance is cognitive consonance. It refers to a state of congruence between a persons beliefs and behaviors. When an individual’s values are well-aligned and consistent with their actions, they cognitive dissonance and addiction are more likely to experience cognitive consonance.

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The important thing is to stay connected to yourself and make positive changes when needed. Cognitive dissonance is a little different than its evil twin, hypocrisy. But because we want the benefits of presenting ourselves a certain way, we don’t mind the inconsistency in our behavior. This produces a feeling of mental discomfort leading to an alteration in one of the attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors to reduce the discomfort and restore balance.

The effects of cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance can affect our cognitive biases, and vice versa. Typically, when we feel psychological dissonance, it’s because one of these patterns of thought is being challenged. We may develop these biases to avoid discomfort or changing our behavior. Festinger’s (1957) cognitive dissonance theory suggests that we have an inner drive to hold all our attitudes and behavior in harmony and avoid disharmony (or dissonance).

• In such cases, people often reduce cognitive dissonance by only seeking out information that confirms the things that they already believe (a phenomenon known as the confirmation bias).
• The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people are averse to inconsistencies within their own minds.
• Staying curious is a constant reminder that things can change and there are alternative ways to think and behave.
• That’s why it’s important to recognize what it is and what it feels like — if you don’t, then it will be that much harder to live an authentic life aligned with your personal values.
• In other words, they reduce cognitive dissonance by ignoring things that contradict their beliefs.

Because people want to avoid discomfort, cognitive dissonance can have a wide range of effects. Dissonance can play a role in how we act, think, and make decisions. We may engage in behaviors or adopt attitudes to help relieve the discomfort caused by the conflict. For example, behaving in ways that are not aligned with your personal values may result in intense feelings of discomfort. Your behavior contradicts not just the beliefs you have about the world, but also the beliefs that you have about yourself. The inconsistency between what people believe and how they behave motivates them to engage in actions that will help minimize feelings of discomfort.

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• When you feel either physical or psychological discomfort, make a note of it to yourself.
• This is probably because dissonance would be caused if we spent a great effort to achieve something and then evaluated it negatively.
• While you perceive this conflict, you might not understand what to do or how to change the situation.
• We may say one thing only for our behavior to give a completely different message.

People may do this via defense mechanisms, such as avoidance. Alternatively, they may reduce cognitive dissonance by being mindful of their values and pursuing opportunities to live those values. To resolve cognitive dissonance, a person can aim to ensure that their actions are consistent with their values or vice versa. For example, a small 2019 study notes that dissonance-based interventions may be helpful for people with eating disorders. This approach works by encouraging people to say things or role-play behaviors that contradict their beliefs about food and body image. However, cognitive dissonance can also be a tool for personal and social change.

• There comes a time when we feel beaten down by our cognitive dissonance, and we start recognizing that there is an easier way.
• Some of that dissonance can be a good thing, but too much (or too much unresolved tension) means we’re constantly at conflict with ourselves.
• Understand that experiencing cognitive dissonance is a natural aspect of being human.
• This internal conflict can lead to feelings of discomfort and stress.

It’s giving you the information you need to be at peace with your decisions and to understand why you made them. Even though you know they’re joking, you’re a little bit annoyed. In one study, researchers asked participants to give speeches that would encourage the audience to take a certain positive action. When the effort doesn’t seem to be “worth it,” we often make up reasons why it was better than the alternative. This process of effort justification validates the benefits of the choices we’ve made. In 1956, psychologist Jack Brehm observed that when people are given a choice between two similar items, they tend to believe that the item they chose is objectively better.

Causes of cognitive dissonance

In fact, Festinger suggested that in some cases, people cope with inconsistency by disregarding it entirely and simply blindly believing whatever they want. In other words, they reduce cognitive dissonance by ignoring things that contradict their beliefs. When you work hard for something, you want to believe all that effort is worth it.

Decisions

Are you ready to demolish the clash between our values and behavior? It takes a lot of internal work not to jump in with excuses. Often, we avoid this conflict by burying our heads in the sand. If we take this approach, the stress, anxiety, and unhappiness of our cognitive dissonance will finally catch up with us. Confronting cognitive dissonance can often lead to positive results.