Cognitive Dissonance: How Inconsistencies Can Make Our Brains Change Us
In an earlier article, I mentioned that when unrealistic perfectionist standards were not met, cognitive dissonance occurred.
(Read it here: Perfectionism: Making Yourself Sick)
Cognitive Dissonance Theory suggests that having two cognitions that are psychologically incompatible leads to a motivation to reduce and/or take away the psychological inconsistency.
(Cognitions include attitudes, emotions, beliefs, and behavior, not just thoughts.)
This motivation leads to people try to reduce or avoid these feelings of dissonance whenever it is possible, because the two incompatible cognitions lead to internal discomfort (= dissonance).
For example, in the comic above, the character on the left believes his strategic plan to be rational.
When he says “if your numbers are correct, then my plan is irrational”, he is faced with cognitive dissonance when he sees that the numbers are correct.
So, in an effort to reduce levels of dissonance, he convinces himself that the other man is “bad with numbers”, hence reinforcing his initial thought that his plan is rational.
People tend to believe that thoughts, emotions, and behavior are consistent, so when this consistency is challenged, it makes the individual change his or her cognitions to reduce dissonance.
Dr. Scott Plous, professor of Social Psychology at Weslyan University, gives the example of a car accident.
A father and a son go on a fishing trip, and on the way back, they get into a horrible car accident.
The father dies at the scene, and the son is taken to the emergency room.
He needs surgery and is immediately taken to the operating table.
However, the surgery is delayed when the doctor arrives and says, “I can’t operate, there lies my son!”
Is this situation possible?
In the social experiment in which this example was used, the majority of individuals said “no, this situation is not possible”.
But what if the doctor was female?
Prior to the questioning, all of the participants had described themselves as “not sexist” and “not having gender bias”.
However, when they were notified of the results and had come to the realization that they had not even imagined that the doctor could have been female, they acted overly nonsexist in the following exercises.
This is what Dr. Plous explains as “postdecisional cognitive dissonance“, or efforts to avoid and reduce the dissonance that follows a decision.
So in order to convince themselves that they really weren’t sexist, the participants would overcompensate after feeling dissonance.
Why is cognitive dissonance a bad thing? It can lead to being biased.
It can lead to a tendency to reject new information or ways of thinking that do not fit with our pre-existing beliefs (also known as confirmation bias).
We also don’t like to second-guess our choices, even if later they are proven wrong or unwise.
By “second-guessing” ourselves, it makes us think that we may not be as wise or as right as we thought we were.
Cognitive dissonance: another example of how our own brains can fool us– to the point of changing our own behavior!
Becker, C.B, Bull, S., Schaumberg, K., Cauble, A., & Franco, A. (2008). Effectiveness of peer-led eating disorders prevention: A replication trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 76(2), 347-354.
Harmon-Jones, E. & Mills, J. (Eds.)(1999). Cognitive Dissonance: Progress on a Pivotal Theory in Social Psychology. American Psychological Association: Washington, DC.
Matz, D.C. Hofstedt, P.M. & Wood, W. (2008). Extraversion as a moderator of the cognitive dissonance associated with disagreement. Personality and Individual Differences, 45(5), 401-405.
http://angryblackladychronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Dilbert-Cognitive-Dissonance1.jpg
http://arstechnica.com/science/2010/12/this-is-your-brain-undergoing-cognitive-dissonance/
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