Despite such a tricky name "cognitive dissonance", many people experience it in everyday life. Cognitive means the thought process, and dissonance means disagreement between something. The founder of cognitive dissonance is Festinger, who put forward his theories and concepts. The examples show what cognitive dissonance is.

In every person's life there are situations when you need to make a decision. If a person cannot quickly make a decision, this often indicates cognitive dissonance, that is, an inability to choose between two or even more options for solving a situation. Depending on how quickly a person chooses what he will give up and what he will follow, the decision will take one or another time.

Usually, cognitive dissonance occurs in situations where a person faces a choice: follow their own desires and motives or pay attention to public opinion, the norms of the law, morality? So, for example, cognitive dissonance will arise in a situation where a person learns about the betrayal of his soulmate. On the one hand, you want to fill your face with everything, on the other hand, you need to remember that such actions will lead to liability before the law.

Cognitive dissonance is manifested in the fact that a person is forced to limit himself in some way, since the desired does not always coincide with the possible. For example, a girl wants to live luxuriously and carefree, which is why she begins to look for a rich man. And to the society, which is outraged by her desires, she begins to tell various excuses for her behavior: “I lived in poverty”, “I wish a better life for my children”, etc.

Cognitive dissonance is when a person is faced with different options for solving one problem, and all of them are equivalent and equally important. And a person has to choose not between his desires, but between goals and public opinion, emotional impulses and the norms of the law, that is, between “I want” and “I need to”. A striking example of such dissonance is the child's unwillingness to learn. On the one hand, he needs to study, on the other hand, he does not want to waste time studying uninteresting topics.

And since it is not always possible for a person to follow the lead of public opinion, he is forced to look for various excuses. People will start asking why he didn't listen to them! And he must have good reasons for defiance.

The same thing happens in a situation where a person follows the lead of society, which is contrary to his personal desires. For example, a guy, instead of punishing his offender with his fists, simply turns around and leaves, as his parents taught him. In order to calm himself and justify his act, which may seem like a weakness to a guy, he begins to look for good reasons, they say, “this is how my parents taught”, “I showed intelligence”, etc.

Cognitive dissonance also manifests itself when an important decision needs to be made, but a person is overcome by strong doubts. Even when he has made a decision, a person continues to doubt and sort out other options for solving the situation in his head. For example, a woman decided to forgive her husband for his misdeed, but in the following days she continues to doubt whether this should have been done and how much this corresponds to her desires.

What is cognitive dissonance?

Cognitive dissonance refers to the site of a psychological help site to negative states in which one feels discomfort due to conflicting knowledge, worldviews, teachings, ideas, values, goals, behavioral attitudes and beliefs. Often experience and what a person has to do, habits and necessary, personal and social, often come into conflict.

Cognitive dissonance is a confrontation between two cognitions that are not equally significant for the person himself, but are equally possible when solving a certain issue. And a person faces a choice, for example, between the satisfaction of physical desires or moral values.

In order to overcome cognitive dissonance, a person makes a choice between experience and actions, and then begins to find a rational grain in what he has chosen in order to explain to himself and those around him his choice, which may seem wrong to someone. Thus, a person achieves inner balance, smoothness. Such a theory is put forward by the founder Leon Festinger, who noted that the most comfortable state for a person is cognitive coherence. And if an individual chooses one thing, then in order to achieve inner harmony, he begins to look for justifications for his own choice.

Causes of cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance occurs for the following reasons:

1. The discrepancy between personal beliefs and the attitudes of the society or group in which the person is located.
2. The discrepancy between the concepts and ideas that a person operates with.
3. Contradiction with social norms and ethnic rules, especially if they do not correspond to the law or personal desires.
4. The inconsistency of the experience that a person has with the information that he receives in the new conditions. In other words, previous experience does not help in dealing with a new situation that is similar to the previous one.

Each person has knowledge and experience that he receives as he lives. However, new situations may indicate that his existing beliefs are not at all true or do not always work. Since a person is forced to solve problems, he begins to choose the best from the worst. And in order to achieve internal balance, he finds various justifications for his choice.

Festinger tried to explain the nature of the occurrence of cognitive dissonance, as well as ways to eliminate it. And here the motivation stands out, which dictates to a person what choice he will make. The strongest motivation tells a person which idea should be abandoned in order to implement another. And then, in order to maintain balance in the new path, a person must justify his act.

Theory of cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance has been known since ancient times, since a person has always faced the need to choose between personal desires and the norms of public life. Either a person will try to be a good citizen, or he will achieve success, which implies the presence of selfishness and obstinacy - qualities that are not acceptable in society.

Cognitive dissonance is natural for any person who cannot know everything about the world around him. The property of the brain is to remember what situations happened and what decisions were made, actions were performed, what was eventually obtained. If a person has achieved failure, then he draws certain conclusions, they say, “you don’t need to do this so as not to get into a mess again.” However, in a typical situation, a person acts differently and again encounters failure, and as a result of the analysis it turns out that he should have acted as he did in the previous situation.

Cognitive dissonance is the need to find a solution to one situation among the many options that a person has based on his experience, as well as those offered by society, individuals and even the law. Here a person must sometimes choose among options that do not correspond to his desires, habitual actions.

Since cognitive dissonance forces a person to give up something, he finds excuses. And anything can be used here: “I did the right thing, no matter what!”, “This is my life. I live the way I want!”, “Last time I did something wrong”, “I have the right to make a mistake”, etc. Psychologists identify such ways to reduce dissonance:

1. Transformation of one cognition, that is, assuring oneself of the opposite.
2. Changing your own behavior.
3. Filtering out the information that comes in.
4. See mistakes and change the decision, act according to it.

A way to reduce cognitive dissonance after a decision has been made may be for the person to exalt the significance of the decision they made and downplay all other options that were offered when fixing the problem.

Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance

Leon Festinger put forward the following theories of cognitive dissonance:

• The individual will try to get rid of the cognitive dissonance when it occurs.
• A person will avoid all situations that will introduce him into cognitive dissonance.

In the process of cognitive dissonance, when the connection between ideas is lost or there is no coordination between actions and thoughts, the intellect and the person's reaction to those stimuli that are present in the situation are involved.

Cognitive dissonance can manifest itself in the fact that a person begins to repent or doubt the decision made. This may happen over time. The action has already been taken. The result is achieved, but it does not satisfy the desires of the person himself. And over time, he begins to repent, to feel remorse, subsequently making other decisions in similar situations.

Examples of cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance happens to many people and there are many situations. Examples might be:

1. Receipt of an excellent student and a double student. Since a certain behavior is required from each student (an excellent student must study well, and a poor student must study poorly), cognitive dissonance sets in when an excellent student begins to study for twos, and a loser - for fives.
2. Bad habits. Sooner or later, everyone begins to understand that habits are harmful to health. And here a person faces a choice: to continue to harm himself or get rid of the habit.
3. Should you give charity? If you see a homeless person on the street, then you are faced with a choice: to give or not to give? It all depends on your inner convictions and social principles.
4. Striving to lose weight. On the one hand, the girl wants to lose weight. However, on the other hand, she may experience a strong desire to eat something tasty.

Since cognitive dissonance has occurred and will occur in the life of any person, various ways to avoid it are proposed:

• Humility with the situation, that is, begin to treat it as acceptable.
• A positive attitude is to see the positive aspects in the situation.
• Avoiding information that contradicts your views and experience.

Outcome

A person lives in a diverse world that cannot be explained only from one side. To avoid cognitive dissonance, you need to learn to see all the diversity and understand that in situations you can act badly, and selfishly, and wrongly, which is also normal if it gives positive results.

05/13/2018 3 608 0 Igor

Psychology and society

The 21st century is fraught with many psychological problems associated with the discrepancy between the ideas and values ​​that have developed in society earlier and which are dictated to us by the modern age of informatization, globalization and an open society. In this regard, the era in which we live can become the age of psychology. Now in the world, and especially in Russia, psychological education is developing powerfully, but even a person who has nothing to do with psychology very often encounters the concept of cognitive dissonance in his life. What does it mean in simple terms?

Content:

Cognitive dissonance - what is it?

The cognitive dissonance(from the Latin "cognitio" - perception, cognition and "dissonantia" - dissonance, lack of harmony) - this is a mental state of a person that is associated with internal discomfort, a contradiction caused by a discrepancy between ideas and knowledge about an object, phenomenon, previously formed as a result of previous experience , process, person and newly received, more real and relevant information about them.

In simple words, cognitive dissonance is an internal imbalance that arose as a result of a collision in the mind of opposing ideas of perceiving reality.

The contradiction between what is habitual and correct, and what actually exists, leads to a violation of inner harmony, misunderstanding, primary rejection and rejection, and forces you to endlessly scroll through it in your head, analyze and look for the causes of what happened.

The history of the effect

In order to deeply understand the essence of any concept, it is necessary not only to understand its meaning, but also to know the history of its origin.

For the first time, the famous American psychologists of the twentieth century Fritz Haider and Leon Festinger began to use the concept of cognitive dissonance in their practice. And in 1957, Festinger developed the theory of cognitive dissonance.

The reason these psychologists turned to describing the effect of internal discomfort was the earthquake in India, which occurred in 1934. After him, for many years, the inhabitants of this country massively spread unsubstantiated rumors that such natural disasters could be repeated throughout India. By such actions, they fought their own fears about a possible repetition of terrible events and restored the balance between the information they received from external sources and reality. Festinger called this effect cognitive dissonance - the discrepancy between acquired experience and knowledge and the perception of reality.

The proposed theory, which studies the influence of the effect of internal discomfort on a person, on what methods and methods he chooses to overcome this discomfort, has become indispensable for explaining the reasons underlying various conflict situations.

The whole theory is built on two main hypotheses formulated by Festinger:

1. At the first signs of an internal imbalance, a person will do everything to get rid of it, since it negatively affects the mental state.
2. A person makes every effort to avoid situations associated with an increase in the effect of cognitive dissonance.

Examples

1. In society, there is an idea that a teacher should be calm, kind, polite and benevolent. What kind of internal dissonance can the fact lead to when you enter the class in which your child is studying and see how the teacher scolds the students in a raised tone and behaves inappropriately and quite aggressively. Such behavior of a teacher completely contradicts the image of a good and kind teacher that each of us represents in our minds.
2. You know that this person is the head of a large company, has a fairly high income, is always dressed in expensive clothes, goes to the best cafes and restaurants in the city. And so, walking down the street, one day you meet him picking up garbage in the park. You immediately have an internal imbalance between the way you imagined it and the way you saw it at the moment. And he simply participated in the general subbotnik for cleaning the territory of his native city, which he himself initiated.
3. You are a heavy drinker. Every day you are confronted with information about the dangers of alcohol and its negative impact on the human body, which causes a cognitive dissonance between what you can no longer do without and what you hear about a bad habit at a given time.

Causes

• inconsistency of generally accepted moral norms and rules of behavior with our ideas about what is good and what is bad. Each of us has experience, knowledge of how to behave in different life situations, but very often we fall into the trap of past experience and cannot find a way out and make the right decision in new realities. Therefore, they are forced to act in accordance with the laws of society and the family;
• the discrepancy between the image of a person that has developed in the mind over a certain period of time of acquaintance with him, with those actions that we can observe from the outside in some unexpected situation;
• discrepancy between the words, actions and behavior of another person compared to our words, actions and behavior;
• misunderstanding, condemnation and rejection on the part of the people around us, which is caused by generally accepted, cultural, moral, ethical judgments and views.

How to get rid of internal discomfort?

The easiest way is to prevent situations that can lead to internal imbalance (try to avoid negative information and stressful situations, because it is easier to prevent a problem than to solve it).

If it was not possible to avoid the problem, you can first make an attempt to adapt to it: constantly convincing yourself that it was inevitable for specific reasons, and accustoming yourself not to react to it in the future. To do this, you can not watch TV, do not read the news, or do not communicate with those people who are unpleasant to you.

But there are also cases when it is necessary to get rid not of the discomfort itself, but of the causes leading to it.

Tips to help restore spiritual harmony and change internally:

1. Look for alternatives to the current situation. Think about how you or someone else could have acted differently, where it would have led. Such introspection will make it possible to put everything on the shelves, build a logical chain of what happened, and then the situation can no longer be taken so close to heart.
2. Change your behavior pattern. This is true when your actions harm you and loved ones, constantly lead to various difficulties and problems. If it is not possible to do this on your own, you can seek help from specialists: a psychologist, psychotherapist, psychiatrist.
3. Don't live on past mistakes: analyze them and continue to enjoy life. Use the experience that you have gained not to repeat such situations, but to prevent them.
4. Develop, expand the boundaries of your consciousness, do not dwell on the bad.

Important! It is impossible to never face cognitive dissonance in reality. But this is not necessary, because experiences, doubts carry great value due to the fact that they are a powerful impetus to self-development and new achievements and victories. The most important thing is not to overdo it with their number and be able to adequately respond to situations that lead to internal disharmony.

I hope that after reading this article, two mysterious and complex words - cognitive dissonance - will never again cause confusion in you.

Cognitive dissonance is a mental state accompanied by discomfort caused by a discrepancy or inconsistency in the mind of a number of conflicting ideas and concepts. Despite the complexity of the name and definition, every person almost daily encounters something similar. Sometimes we ourselves, without knowing it, plunge ourselves into a similar state, but more often this happens for reasons independent of the person.

The meaning of the concept

Cognitive dissonance is a psychological phenomenon that is accompanied by the appearance of some inconsistency between two cognitions. So, often in their actions a person has to either neglect social attitudes, or else give up personal principles. Because of this, a certain disagreement arises between action and belief.

As a result of the onset of cognitive dissonance, a person may resort to justifying his own actions or delusions that run counter to generally accepted norms. Otherwise, the individual has to direct his thinking in a new direction, which would correspond to the opinions of others and reduce conflicting sensations.

Cognitive dissonance - what is it in simple words?

Many psychological concepts and terms are not so easy to understand and understand their meaning. Sometimes a detailed explanation is required. This also applies to such a phenomenon as cognitive dissonance. What is it in simple words? The explanation of this concept is much simpler than it might seem at first glance.

Each person has some life experience and personal opinion regarding the solution of certain situations. Nevertheless, it is not always possible to solve a particular problem on the basis of one's own ideas. Sometimes a person goes against his own opinion, for example, to please the opinions of others, social values, or the norms of the law. This discrepancy between thoughts and actions is called cognitive dissonance.

Sometimes it happens that an individual consciously or unconsciously violates certain rules (or even commits a crime). In this case, it is important to get justification not only from others, but also from yourself. Thus, a person begins to look for or invent moments that can mitigate guilt in order to weaken the internal contradiction. It is also worth noting that such contradictions can arise not only in one individual, but also at the collective level.

Cognitive dissonance also often occurs when a person has to make an important decision. The individual is overcome by doubts that do not go away even when the final choice is made. Mental activity for some time will be aimed at sorting out in my head the possible options and their consequences.

Causes of Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive dissonance can occur due to several common causes, among which are the following:

• inconsistency of ideas and concepts that a person is guided by when making certain decisions;
• discrepancy between life beliefs and generally accepted norms in society or in a certain circle;
• the spirit of contradiction caused by the unwillingness to follow generally accepted cultural and ethical norms, and especially when they go against the law;
• inconsistency of information obtained as a result of this or that experience with new conditions or situations.

Author of the theory

The author of the theory of cognitive dissonance is Leon Festinger. This doctrine was presented in 1957 and was intended to explain the essence, causes, and patterns of this phenomenon. The author considered this concept as a phenomenon of inconsistency between various thoughts and ideas of an individual (or a collective).

Hypotheses of the theory

The theory of cognitive dissonance by L. Festinger is based on two main hypotheses, which are as follows:

• in view of the fact that the occurrence of cognitive dissonance is accompanied by psychological discomfort, the individual will try in every possible way to overcome this discrepancy;
• from the first point, the second can be deduced, which says that a person will in every possible way avoid situations that can plunge him into a similar state.

Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance not only provides an interpretation and clarification of concepts, but also explains the ways out of this state. In addition, the scientist considers a number of real cases, which are the most typical examples in psychology.

The essence of the theory

The first thing worth noting is the fact that the theory of cognitive dissonance belongs to the category of motivational ones. This means that this state is decisive in the behavior of the individual. We can say that it is ideas and beliefs that largely influence a person’s actions, as well as his life position. Thus, it is impossible to interpret knowledge only as a set of certain facts. These are primarily motivational factors that determine human behavior both in everyday life and in non-standard situations.

The concept of cognitive dissonance combines two categories. The first of these is the intellect, which is considered as a set of certain beliefs and knowledge, as well as attitudes towards them. The second is affect, that is, a reaction to pathogens and stimuli. At the very moment when a person ceases to find a connection or feels internal contradictions between these categories, a state of cognitive dissonance sets in.

The process itself is inextricably linked with past events and experiences of the individual. So, having committed a certain act, a person may begin to repent or experience remorse. Moreover, this can happen after a considerable period of time. Then the individual begins to look for an excuse for his act or some facts that can mitigate his guilt.

How to reduce dissonance?

The state of cognitive dissonance causes psychological discomfort, from which the individual, quite naturally, tries to get rid of (or at least somewhat reduce discomfort). There are several ways that allow you to achieve relief from a contradictory state, namely:

• change the line of your behavior (if you feel that you are doing wrong, or acting contrary to your convictions, it is worth directing your efforts in the opposite direction, if this is possible in this particular case);
• to convince oneself (meaning the search for justification for one's actions in order to reduce their guilt or even make them correct in their understanding);
• filter information (in order not to feel internal contradictions, it is worth taking only positive data, and not taking all the negative seriously or even bypassing it altogether);
• take into account all the information and facts about the current situation, get an idea about it, and then build a new line of behavior, which will be considered the only correct one.

How to avoid dissonance

Since the phenomenon of cognitive dissonance is associated with discomfort and psychological stress, many prefer to prevent this condition than to deal with its consequences later. One of the most accessible ways to achieve this is to avoid any negative information that may be contrary to your personal beliefs or current situation. This method fits into the concept of psychological defense, which was developed by Sigmund Freud and later developed by his followers.

In the event that the occurrence of cognitive dissonance could not be avoided, it is possible to deal with its further development. To do this, additional elements are introduced into the cognitive system, which are designed to present the current situation in a positive light. At the same time, you need to ignore or avoid in every possible way those sources of information that can return you to the initial state.

One of the most common and accessible ways to deal with dissonance is to accept reality and adapt to it. In this regard, it is worth convincing yourself that the situation is acceptable. In addition, if the phenomenon is long-term, then psychological work should be aimed at changing one's own beliefs.

Cognitive dissonance: real life examples

In real life, quite often one can encounter such phenomena that cause a feeling of inconsistency or inconsistency of beliefs with the real situation. This is cognitive dissonance. Their examples are quite numerous.

The simplest example is a gold medalist and a C student who entered the university. It is quite logical that teachers expect high results and a decent level of knowledge from the first, and do not place special hopes on the second. Nevertheless, it may turn out that an excellent student will answer a question very mediocre and incomplete, and a C student, on the contrary, will give a competent, meaningful answer. In this case, the teacher experiences cognitive dissonance due to the fact that his beliefs turned out to be inconsistent with the real situation.

Another example given by psychologist A. Leontiev illustrates the desire to reduce discomfort. So, imprisoned revolutionaries were forced to dig holes as a punishment. Naturally, this occupation was unpleasant and even disgusting for the prisoners. To reduce the feeling of psychological discomfort, many gave their action a new meaning, namely, harm to the current regime.

Also, cognitive dissonance can be considered in relation to people who have bad habits (for example, smokers, or those who abuse alcohol. It is quite natural that all of them sooner or later realize the harm of these phenomena for their body. In this case, there are two scenarios. Either the individual tries by all available means to get rid of the bad habit, or he begins to look for excuses for himself, which in his mind can outweigh the possible harm that will be done to health.

Another example is also related to a typical life situation. So, for example, you see a beggar on the street who is begging, but by his appearance you can tell that he does not quite deserve money or does not need it so much (or maybe he will spend not on food or medicine, but on alcohol or cigarettes). Nevertheless, under the influence of your life principles or moral standards, you cannot pass by such a person. Thus, under the guidance of social principles, you do what you do not want.

Sometimes it happens that before a responsible exam, a student simply does not prepare for it. This may be due to laziness, health, unforeseen circumstances, and so on. Thus, understanding his responsibility for the result and realizing the possible consequences, the individual, nevertheless, does not make any attempts to learn the notes.

Cognitive dissonance is often experienced by girls who strive to lose weight and torture themselves with diets. If at this time they want to eat, for example, a cake, then this will be contrary to their goals and general ideas about proper nutrition. There are several possible solutions to the problem here. You can continue to insist on your own and deny yourself sweets, or you can stop the diet altogether, making sure that you already look good. You can also make a one-time indulgence for yourself, which will later be reimbursed by fasting or physical activity.

Conclusion

Consideration of the problem of cognitive dissonance was carried out by many scientists and psychologists. Particular attention should be paid to the work of Leon Festinger, as well as Sigmund Freud and his followers. Their theories are the most complete and contain not only information about the phenomenon itself and its causes, but also about ways to solve the problem.

It is worth noting that the theory that describes the phenomenon of cognitive dissonance refers to motivational. The contradiction that arises as a result of the inconsistency of beliefs and desires with real actions largely affects how the individual's behavior will be in the future. He may come to terms with the situation and try to revise his ideas, which will somewhat reduce the state of dissonance, or he may resort to attempts to explain or justify his behavior, avoiding real data and facts (protecting himself from the outside world).

To avoid a state of cognitive dissonance, you should avoid conflicting states and information that contradicts your beliefs. In this way, you can protect yourself from internal contradictions that have arisen due to the need to act contrary to your desires and beliefs.

The cognitive dissonance

The cognitive dissonance(from English words: cognitive - « informative" And dissonance - « lack of harmony"") - a state of an individual, characterized by a collision in his mind of conflicting knowledge, beliefs, behavioral attitudes regarding some object or phenomenon, in which the denial of another follows from the existence of one element, and the feeling of psychological discomfort associated with this discrepancy.

Literally, this means: "lack of harmony in cognition, or in a normal translation - a discrepancy between the received and the expected."

The concept of "cognitive dissonance" was first introduced by Leon Festinger in 1957.

Theory of cognitive dissonance

The theory of cognitive dissonance was proposed by Leon Festinger in G. It explains the conflict situations that often arise "in the cognitive structure of one person." The theory aims to explain and explore the state of cognitive dissonance that occurs in a person as a reaction to a certain situation, the actions of individuals or the whole.

The main hypotheses of the theory

• due to logical inconsistency;
• "because of cultural practices";
• in the event that an individual opinion is part of a broader opinion;
• due to the inconsistency of past experience with the present situation.

Cognitive dissonance arises from a mismatch between the two "cognitions" (or "knowledge") of the individual. An individual, having information on any issue, is forced to neglect it when making a certain decision. As a result, there is a discrepancy (“dissonance”) between a person’s attitudes and his real actions.

As a result of such behavior, there is a change in certain (which the situation affects in one way or another) attitudes of a person, and this change can be justified on the basis that it is vital for a person to maintain the consistency of his knowledge.

Therefore, people are ready to justify their delusions: a person who has committed a misconduct or a mistake tends to justify himself in his thoughts, gradually shifting his beliefs about what happened in the direction that what happened was actually not so terrible. In this way the individual "regulates" his thinking in order to reduce conflict within himself.

Degree of dissonance

In various situations that arise in everyday life, dissonance can increase or decrease - it all depends on the problem that confronts the person.

Thus, the degree of dissonance will be minimal if, for example, a person gives money to a beggar on the street, who (apparently) does not really need alms. On the contrary, the degree of dissonance will increase many times over if a person faces a serious exam, but he does not try to prepare for it.

Dissonance can (and does) arise in any situation where a person has to make a choice. Moreover, the degree of dissonance will grow depending on how important this choice is for the individual ...

Reducing dissonance

It is clear that the existence of dissonance, regardless of the degree of its strength, forces a person to get rid of it completely, and if for some reason this is not yet possible, then significantly reduce it. To reduce dissonance, a person can resort to four methods:

1. change your behavior;
2. change "cognition", that is, convince yourself of the opposite;
3. filter incoming information regarding a given issue or problem.
4. development of the first method: to apply the criterion of truth to the information received, to admit one's mistakes and act in accordance with a new, more complete and clear understanding of the problem.

Let's explain this with a specific example. For example, a person is a heavy smoker. He receives information about the dangers of smoking - from a doctor, a friend, from a newspaper or from another source. According to the information received, he will either change his behavior - that is, quit smoking, because he was convinced that it was too harmful for his health. Or he can deny that smoking harms his body, try, for example, to find some information that smoking can be “useful” to some extent (for example, while he smokes, he does not gain excess weight, as it happens when a person quits smoking), and thereby reduce the importance of negative information. This reduces the dissonance between his knowledge and actions. In the third case, he will try to avoid any information that emphasizes the harm of smoking.

Prevention and avoidance of dissonance

In some cases, an individual can prevent the appearance of dissonance and, as a result, internal discomfort by trying to avoid any negative information regarding his problem. If the dissonance has already arisen, then the individual can avoid its amplification by adding one or more cognitive elements "to the cognitive schema" instead of the existing negative element (which generates the dissonance). Thus, the individual will be interested in finding such information that would approve his choice (his decision) and, in the end, would weaken or completely eliminate dissonance, while avoiding sources of information that will increase it. However, frequent such behavior of an individual can lead to negative consequences: a person may develop a fear of dissonance or prejudice, which is a dangerous factor affecting the individual's worldview.

Between two (or more) cognitive elements there can be relations of inconsistency (dissonance). When dissonance occurs, the individual seeks to reduce its degree, avoid or get rid of it completely. This desire is justified by the fact that a person sets as his goal a change in his behavior, the search for new information regarding the situation or the object that “gave rise to dissonance”.

It is quite understandable that it is much easier for a person to agree with the existing state of affairs, adjusting his internal attitudes according to the current situation, instead of continuing to suffer from the question of whether he did the right thing. Often dissonance arises as a consequence of making important decisions. The choice of two equally tempting alternatives is not easy for a person, however, having finally made this choice, a person often begins to feel “dissonant cognitions”, that is, the positive aspects of the option that he refused, and the not-so-positive features of the one with which he agreed. In order to suppress (weaken) dissonance, a person tries with all his might to exaggerate the significance of his decision, while at the same time downplaying the importance of the rejected one. As a consequence, the other alternative loses all appeal in his eyes.

Literature

see also

Links

• Festinger L. Introduction to the theory of dissonance. // Festinger L. Theory of cognitive dissonance. - St. Petersburg: Yuventa, 1999. - S. 15-52.
• Deryabin A. A. Self-concept and theory of cognitive dissonance: a review of foreign literature.

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See what "Cognitive dissonance" is in other dictionaries:

THE COGNITIVE DISSONANCE- (English cognitive dissonance) an experience of discomfort arising from actions that run counter to one's own beliefs (attitudes). An internal problem, an intrapersonal conflict, can be resolved if beliefs or interpretations are changed ... ... Great Psychological Encyclopedia

- (lat. dissonans discordantly sounding, cognitio knowledge, cognition) a concept in social psychology that explains the influence of a system of cognitive elements on human behavior, describing the formation of social motivations under their influence ... ... The latest philosophical dictionary

- (cognitive dissonance) A state characterized by a clash in the mind of an individual of conflicting knowledge, beliefs, behavioral attitudes regarding some object or phenomenon. A person seeks to overcome cognitive dissonance by ... ... Glossary of business terms

An intellectual conflict that occurs when existing opinions and ideas are contradicted by new information. The discomfort or tension caused by the conflict can be relieved by one of several defensive actions: the individual ... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia

English dissonance, cognitive; German cognitive dissonance. According to L. Festinger, a state characterized by a clash in the mind of an individual of conflicting knowledge, beliefs, behavioral attitudes regarding c.l. object or phenomenon that causes ... ... Encyclopedia of Sociology

Exist., number of synonyms: 1 inadequate condition (1) ASIS synonym dictionary. V.N. Trishin. 2013 ... Synonym dictionary

the cognitive dissonance- pažinimo disonansas statusas T sritis švietimas apibrėžtis Asmenybės būsena, atsirandanti dėl žinojimo, įsitikinimų ir veiklos bei elgesio prieštaravimų. Esant pažinimo disonanso būsenai, išgyvenamas vidinis nepatogumas (diskomfortas) arba… … Enciklopedinis edukologijos žodynas

Very often you can hear the phrase “cognitive dissonance has arisen”, what kind of phenomenon is this? Let's try to figure out the meaning of the expression and understand in what situations it can be used.

The concept of "cognitive dissonance" is based on two Latin lexemes - cognitio - "cognition" and dissonantia - "dissonance". To put it simply, a person, speaking of cognitive dissonance, claims that feels disharmony Or he's just really uncomfortable.

This is a special state of the psyche, in which a person feels a significant internal contradiction when he has to face something that does not correspond to his moral principles, or simply goes beyond understanding, that is, a certain conflict situation is created.

An elementary example, you may be familiar with a person, but you are not aware of the presence of that twin. And then one day you meet him on the street next to his brother.

Subconsciously, a contradiction arises when you cannot immediately realize that there are two such people, and one is visually familiar to you, but as a person one of them is a complete stranger. Here is the feeling of this contradiction and the suddenly emerging the need to clarify the situation called cognitive dissonance.

Simply put, cognitive dissonance is always conflict of existing ideas with new information received, that does not fit with the usual attitudes, or is it a discrepancy between experience and skills and the objective situation.

Festinger's theory

In the middle of the twentieth century, the American psychologist Lyon Festinger developed the theory of cognitive dissonance, which allowed psychology to explain the origin and development of many conflict situations. It is extremely necessary to be able to operate with this knowledge when working with people.

The theory is designed to study the impact of cognitive dissonance on personality, all types of such a state, as well as methods of getting rid of discomfort.

Festinger created two versions his theory:

• it is common for a person, in the presence of cognitive dissonance, to begin to act in order to overcome it, making every effort to avoid a state of internal lack of comfort;
• the personality will by all means, even subconsciously, try to avoid such situations and factors that increase dissonance.

In principle, the whole theory lies in these two phrases.

Examples of cognitive dissonance

Sometimes, having met someone, an impression is created about the interlocutor. You can consider him kind, always calm, meek. Therefore, the perception a priori positive for us. Suddenly you see him on the street talking to his wife in a raised voice.

At the same time, he not only screams, but also uses profanity, behaves unusually aggressively, and his facial expressions change radically, as if the good-natured mask has disappeared, and you are watching an evil creature unfamiliar to you. So it turns out that your the idea of ​​a person does not correspond to reality, and not always your inner “I” is able to immediately come to terms with what he saw.

By the way, this very striking example, our ancestors, not yet knowing such a term as "cognitive dissonance", characterized in the proverb "there are devils in still waters".

Or here's another example, you often serve the same beggar alms, watch him begging. But one day, passing by at another time, you see how a beggar collects things and gets behind the wheel of a car, because for him this is just a business that brings a good income.

This discrepancy between the idea of ​​poor people begging and having cars at the same time provokes a real cognitive dissonance.

Also, this phenomenon occurs when we have to deviate from our own principles under the pressure of circumstances. In such cases, there may be the difference between action and belief.

How to get rid of cognitive dissonance?

Actually completely get rid of this conflict it is possible only by removing its root cause, which is practically impossible, since we initially have certain experience and established beliefs, and it is not always justified, and even possible, to reshape ourselves to the circumstances.

But there is a possibility alleviate conflicts:

• change your behavior, in the case when you think that you are forced to do wrong;
• convince yourself of the opposite, that is, justify your actions;
• engage in filtering incoming information, simply filter out everything that can carry negative emotions;
• think about the situation and build new lines of behavior.

The tips seem simple, but in practice their implementation is often difficult for our own internal attitudes. Avoid conflicting information and you will be able to protect yourself from cognitive dissonance.