Convective psychology. Are there systems free from dissonant relationships? Learn to admit your own mistakes

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. In conversation educated people You can often hear unfamiliar words borrowed from other languages or professions.

No one wants to look like an ignoramus in the eyes of others, so let’s try to expand our conceptual apparatus even more and find out the meaning of a mysterious term similar to a psychiatrist’s diagnosis - cognitive dissonance.

What is this, in simple words It's easy to explain. This is a conflict (internal) that occurs due to a discrepancy between what you saw (perceived) and what idea you had about it before. This collision of previously formed ideas and reality.

It’s more difficult to figure out whether it’s time to start worrying if it happened to you.

Cognitive dissonance as it is

Like most terms in psychological science, the concept of cognitive dissonance sounds mysterious, but hides a fairly simple phenomenon. It is formed from two words cognitio(to know, to know) and dissonantia(inconsistency, “contradiction”, contradiction), which in translation can mean “to feel a discrepancy”, “to feel discomfort”.

Let's use an example. Do you have a friend with whom you periodically exchange greetings? Imagine that at this moment you will see next to him an exact copy of him (a twin whose existence you did not imagine)? Your condition can just be described as cognitive dissonance.

There is a phrase very close in meaning - conflict within yourself. All people impose patterns on the events that happen to them and around them (they create attitudes and behavior patterns for themselves). So convenient. Breaking the pattern causes a state close to shock or stupor. The same dissonance (contradiction, psychological discomfort).

You will have a slight breakdown (break) of the pattern if, for example, you see a beggar who has been given alms for five minutes getting into his luxury car. Or if you catch a sweet, kind, quiet, polite person yelling at his child.

A priori be in a state of dissonance the person is not comfortable and he will strive to get away from it (allow, avoid, not notice, ignore). For example, a person will justify his own “bad” behavior to himself in order to reduce the degree of internal conflict (so that he can live with it).

Psychological discomfort also occurs when we make some choice for ourselves that affects future fate. Having chosen one of the contradictory settings, we will strive to create conditions for a comfortable stay in it. For example, having chosen an unrighteous path, we will eventually find excuses for ourselves, but at the moment of choice we will experience cognitive dissonance, which we will try to eliminate as quickly as possible.

Well, having the experience of “stepping on a rake,” we will in the future try to avoid and not take to heart such situations when internal conflict (psychological discomfort) can happen. In addition, we simply get used to the fact that our idea of something may well be wrong.

Striving for psychological balance

We can experience psychological balance only when we are in the “comfort zone”, and the ideas about the world around us, which are embedded in us by genetics and upbringing, are confirmed by the real “picture”. In other words, the expected coincides with the actual, and the desired with the possible.

We are designed in such a way that we feel confident only when when everything around is logical and explainable. If this does not happen, an unconscious feeling of discomfort, danger and anxiety sets in.

The brain begins to work in enhanced mode, processing incoming information. Brain activity is directed to smooth out this bipolarity and balance the situation to a comfortable state (consonance).

Examples of psychological dissonance from life

It’s good if the situation that plunges you into cognitive dissonance does not concern you personally. I saw it, scratched the back of my head, and moved on. It’s much worse if life circumstances put you in a situation. The collision of the base and the superstructure, the desired and the actual, life principles and requirements external environment sometimes it is so contradictory that it can drive a person into a deep dead end.

For the first time a person consciously encounters this in family and school. There are many examples. “Smoking is harmful, if I see you, I’ll whip you,” says dad, blowing smoke rings. “You can’t take someone else’s,” says my mother, bringing a couple of packages of printer paper from work.

“It’s not good to cheat,” they both say, and push the bag under the seat so as not to pay for luggage. In a child for whom parental authority is initially inviolable, an attack of cognitive dissonance begins- this means that he cannot make a choice.

Subsequently, the parents are surprised - the child, they say, is completely out of control, does not respect, and is deaf to educational measures of influence. And this is precisely the consequences of dissonance, which left its mark on the child’s fragile psyche.

If an adult, faced with a contradictory situation, shrugs his shoulders, twirls his finger at his temple, laughs, or, freaking out, continues to go his own way, then at a tender age inconsistency between what is known and what is seen can cause significant psychological trauma.

And since dual situations await a person throughout his life, then choices have to be made regularly. So a man who adores curvy women can date a model for the sake of social status. But at the same time, his state of unconscious discomfort will increase until it reaches a critical point.

A woman raised on patriarchal values will build a career, tormented by guilt that her husband and children do not get her attention. And this is it.

After graduating from school, the girl enters medical academy to continue the family dynasty, although since childhood she dreamed of becoming an archaeologist. Perhaps, as she grows up, she will change her profession to get rid of the constant psychological stress associated with an unloved job ().

These, of course, are not the most difficult life situations; there are many more variations. It will not sound like an exaggeration that they lie in wait for a person at every step. So try to maintain your mental health here...

Mind Tricks to Combat Cognitive Dissonance

Surprisingly, our brain has already come up with everything without our participation. He has both methods for coping with cognitive dissonance and ways to avoid it altogether.

To reduce the level of psychological stress, a person unconsciously uses the following techniques.

Refuse. Sometimes you need to give up your beliefs so much that you know that if you follow external circumstances, you will stop respecting yourself.
Convince yourself. Sometimes it happens that external circumstances are so strong, and so much depends on them, that it is easier to give up your principles. You can adopt the technique of positive thinking, which allows you to find the positive even in a hopeless situation, and present it from the most favorable perspective.
Avoid. In order not to fall into a psychological trap, you can stop your participation in events if they have taken an undesirable direction of development, and in the future even prevent them from approaching.
Weed out. A cleverly designed brain is able to turn off the perception of those facts, memories and phenomena that are not comfortable for us.

All these processes take place at the subconscious level, so we cannot even explain to ourselves the reason for our action. And their goal is to keep a person in a safety zone, preventing him from getting into an uncomfortable situation that is difficult to understand.

An elastic conscience eliminates any psychological dissonance

Having committed an act that contradicts his beliefs, a person usually tries come to terms with conscience. Inner feeling in a conflict with conscience, it is perceived as very unpleasant, therefore any sane individual tries in every possible way to avoid getting into such slippery situations.

The human psyche is labile, and through self-justification a person is able to reconcile himself with the most seemingly disgusting state of affairs. On the one hand, this is how it works defense mechanism, which does not allow a person to “go off the rails” when placed under super-stress conditions. On the other hand, it comes into effect adaptation mechanism, helping to adapt to any uncomfortable life situation.

But in some individuals this desire to adapt is overdeveloped. In this case, an unattractive phenomenon will be observed, which is aptly nicknamed “elastic conscience” by the people. Each of us has met people with similar characteristics - there are not so few of them. If you constantly fight with your conscience or look for excuses for it, then it becomes completely dull, and no cognitive dissonance will help awaken it.

Life without “pangs of conscience” will become not only simpler, but also more lonely. This is understandable - it is unlikely that those around you will stand in line to get a friend who is unscrupulous and unprincipled.

The world view of cognitive dissonance, or more precisely of its variety such as pangs of conscience, is generally similar. At the same time oriental culture refers to them than the Western one. Moral principles Asian countries are more likely to be associated with the rules accepted in society, and people follow them without much thought. Christian morality is dictated from within - from the heart of a person.

The Orthodox tradition, in particular, explains the voice of the Guardian Angel, which tells a person what is good and what is bad. It is impossible to silence him, therefore it can be very difficult for a decent person to assuage the pangs of conscience.

Is everything so terrible?

Cognitive dissonance is not always a bad thing. The human brain stops developing by the age of 25, because most of the information about the world around us has already accumulated and processed. But he can be periodically provoked to further improvement, bringing himself into a state of cognitive dissonance.

In order for the mind not to get stuck at the level of a 25-year-old youth, it is recommended to periodically artificially take yourself out of your comfort zone– change the type of activity, place of residence or work, learn something new.

This helps artificially stimulate brain activity, pushing our gray matter to a new stage of development. The world is changing, and in order to feel comfortable in it, you need to constantly stimulate yourself to improve yourself. It is no coincidence that the term cognition translated from Latin means " I'll find out».

And the last thing that can be useful in an intelligent conversation is to thank Leon Festinger for the emergence of a new field of science, who introduced it into the scientific field back in the mid-50s of the 20th century.

Good luck to you! See you soon on the pages of the blog site

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Terminology

The word comes from the Latin dissonantia, which can be literally translated as “dissonant sound.” Dissonance - what is this term? What is its content? This term is actively used in various fields. For example, it is often used in art, psychology, and philosophy. Does the word dissonance have a synonym? There are several concepts with similar meaning. Here are the most common ones: incongruity, disagreement, contradiction, disharmony, cacophony (the latter is a synonym from the field of music theory). In essence, this is a violation of harmony, a certain discomfort caused by the discrepancy between existing knowledge and ideas and other new facts. Dissonance - what is it, for example, in the theory of art? Let's turn to the scientific interpretation. According to the encyclopedia, dissonance in music is a different sound. In this case, simultaneously sounding tones do not merge with each other.

Opposite concepts

Consonance (from the Latin consonantia - euphony) is a definition completely polar to dissonance. But together they characterize the relationship between two pairs of “elements”. These components, in essence, are knowledge. Some “elements” are knowledge regarding one’s “I”. Others are information concerning common problems world order. The term “knowledge” was often used in a broad sense of the word, including, in addition to information itself, also opinions, as well as beliefs, attitudes and values. Despite the fact that there are quite significant differences between these phenomena, they can be considered “elements of knowledge.” And it is between their pairs that dissonance and consonance can exist.

Types of Relationships

If cognitive elements do not meet anywhere, do not overlap with each other, and have nothing in common with each other, such elements should be called irrelevant. For us, we are interested exclusively in those elements between which relations of consonance and dissonance can and do arise. The theory of cognitive dissonance was formulated in the mid-twentieth century by Leon Festinger. According to it, two separately located elements will be in dissonance with respect to each other if the negation of one of them is derived from the other. The following example can be given here: a person is sure that he is surrounded exclusively by his friends, but still feels discomfort and fear in this situation.

That is, there is a dissonant attitude. Or another example: a person who has fallen into serious debt suddenly decides to go on an expensive trip around the world. Here, too, two cognitive elements will be dissonant with each other. A “discord” between two elements of knowledge can arise as a consequence of a number of different reasons. These may be a person’s desires and expectations, acquired life experience, or other factors. We will look at them in more detail below.

Causes of cognitive dissonance

We have already answered the question “dissonance - what is it”? Now, to complete the picture, it is worth understanding the causes and factors of its occurrence. First, it may arise due to a logical inconsistency. For example, if a person is confident that in a year he will build a good house, but at the same time has no idea how to lay the foundation, then these two elements are dissonant. Secondly, the reason may be cultural traditions or customs. Suppose that a man does not give up his seat on a tram to an elderly grandmother, but knows perfectly well that, according to established rules of etiquette and moral standards, he must do this. In this case, his knowledge and awareness of what he is doing is wrong is a dissonant relationship. Although in some other culture, where giving up your seat on transport to older people is not accepted, this situation, obviously, would not be an example of the relationship in question.

Thirdly, dissonance occurs when a private opinion in a specific situation goes beyond a more general one. Let's say a citizen who considers himself a radical votes in an election for a candidate with liberal views. The cognitive elements of these two opinions will be dissonant. Finally, a state of cognitive dissonance may occur due to previous experience. Let's imagine a person who several times in his life fell ill with acute sore throat after eating ice cream. And so, in once again he eats it. At the same time, he hopes not to get sick again. This shining example cognitive dissonance based on past life experiences.

Degree of "non-conformity"

One obvious aspect will help determine the level of dissonance. It lies in the objective characteristics of the elements between which there is an “inappropriate” relationship. Suppose that two in a knowledge system are dissonant with respect to each other. Then the degree of "inconsistency" will be in direct proportion to the level of importance of these elements. If the components are very significant for a particular individual, then the dissonance index will be correspondingly high.

Examples

Let us imagine a man giving fifty rubles to a beggar in an underground passage. At the same time, this person realizes that the poor man does not really need this money. But still he gives money, and the dissonance that arises in this case between the two elements is not very strong. After all, neither the first nor the second element is so significant for this person. And the second, radically opposite example. A student, on the eve of an important exam for him, does not prepare for it at all. At the same time, he is well aware that his level of knowledge in the subject will not allow him to pass this test. And in this case, the degree of dissonance for the student will be much higher, because both elements of knowledge are very important for the individual.

Are there systems free from dissonant relationships?

With a high degree of confidence, we can assume that in our life there is objectively no such system that would be completely free from the presence of “inconsistency.” After all, no matter what action an individual is going to take, no matter what feeling he is experiencing, there will always be at least one minor cognitive element that will enter into a dissonant relationship with the “behavioral” component.

Here's a simple example. A seemingly ordinary and trivial belief in the necessity and usefulness of an evening walk before bed may have some cognitive elements that appear dissonant with this knowledge. So, a person may think that there are some tasks waiting for him at home that he must finish. Or he will notice that it is going to rain outside and the like. In a word, for any cognitive element in one system there will certainly be other elements relevant to it, so the undoubted fact is the presence, albeit to a small extent, of dissonance.

Each person has a unique internal “device”, a kind of censor that helps determine negative and positive aspects everyday life. People call it "conscience". And everyone in their life has encountered moments (situations) that need to be resolved, going against existing rules and instilled norms of behavior, while feeling internal discomfort.

Ignoring remorse, people commit unusual acts, feeling that this is the only the right decision. At the same time, experiencing a deep contradiction. This is the answer to the question of what cognitive dissonance is, the definition of which from Latin means “cognition.”

Cognitive dissonance: internal discomfort of the individual

Psychologists talk about this syndrome as a certain mental state that occurs with the discomfort of awareness of one’s own “I”. This situation is accompanied by an imbalance (inconsistency) in the human consciousness of a number of contradictory concepts or ideas.

Despite such a complex definition, every person has encountered cognitive dissonance in their life. Sometimes, this feeling comes through the fault of the individual himself, but more often the syndrome develops for independent reasons.

Founders of the theory

The author of the theory of cognitive dissonance is the American psychologist Fritz Heider. And the full development and description of the syndrome belongs to another psychologist from the USA - Leon Festinger. He became the founder of cognitive psychology, which was published in 1957.

Leon Festinger, author of the theory of cognitive dissonance

The impetus for the creation of the theory of cognitive dissonance was the widespread spread of all kinds of rumors after the earthquake in India in 1934. Residents of regions not affected by the tremors began to spread rumors that new, stronger underground tremors should be expected, threatening other areas. These pessimistic and completely unfounded forecasts spread throughout the country.

Festinger, studying and trying to explain the widespread belief in rumors, made an original conclusion: “People unconsciously strive for internal harmony, a balance between personal behavioral motives and information received from outside.”

In other words, residents fanned rumors and tried to justify their internal fear of the threat of a new earthquake in order to explain their own irrational state.

Theoretical principles

In the theory of cognitive dissonance, Festinger used the main postulates of Gestalt psychology.

Gestalt psychology is a branch of psychology that originated in Germany.XX century. Its representatives argued that human perception of the world does not depend only on the total sum of various sensations, and an individual personality is not described through individual properties. In human consciousness, all parts are organized into a single whole (gestalt).

The main goals of Gestalt psychology are the development of conscious thinking of an individual, the final step of which is acceptance and understanding of oneself as an individual. According to adherents of this direction, the individual strives for complete harmony ideas about themselves, the opinions of those around them and any existing knowledge.

The main postulates of Gestalt psychology

The emerging discrepancy between such ideas is perceived by the individual as something very unpleasant that should be smoothed out as much as possible. When a person faces internal contradictions, he develops a specific motivation that changes his thinking:

a person completely revises one of his usual ideas;
or looks for replacement concepts as new information, closest to the event that provoked internal discomfort.

The term “cognitive dissonance” was introduced into widespread use in Russia by Viktor Pelevin. The famous author in his books described cognitive dissonance in simple words accessible to the uninitiated person.

This concept is now used in everyday life, where one can get by with the expression: “I am puzzled.” More often, internal conflicts that fit into the definition of the syndrome arise against the background of emotional, moral or religious inconsistency.

System hypotheses

In developing the theory of cognitive dissonance, Festinger used two main hypotheses:

A person, faced with a psychological internal discrepancy, will try to overcome the discomfort by any means.
By adopting the first hypothesis, a person unconsciously creates a second one. It says that a person, after “getting acquainted” with cognitive dissonance, will try in every possible way to avoid repeating such situations.

That is, cognitive dissonance determines a person’s further behavior. It belongs to the category of motivational. Based on this, we can draw a conclusion about the essence of the theory.

The essence of cognitive dissonance

Since this syndrome is motivational, it has a direct impact on the development of the individual. This state becomes decisive in a person’s behavioral reactions, influencing his life position, beliefs and views.

How exactly a person will react when faced with cognitive dissonance depends on his life experience, character, and the presence of similar events in the past. A person may experience a feeling of remorse after committing a certain act. Moreover, remorse does not occur immediately, but after a period of time, forcing a person to look for justification for actions, softening the feeling of guilt.

The problem of cognitive dissonance lies in the following fact. A person, trying to resolve internal discomfort, is not engaged in a search for real truth, but in a primitive reduction of existing knowledge to one common denominator. That is, by searching for the first suitable excuse that comes along.

The problem of cognitive dissonance

Festinger not only explained in detail the essence of the theory of cognitive dissonance, but tried to explain the reasons and ways of a possible way out of the situation.

Reasons for the development of the syndrome

The occurrence of cognitive dissonance can be explained by the following reasons:

The discrepancy between socially accepted norms of behavior and life beliefs.
Inconsistency of the information received, coming from an event that exists in life experience.
Inconsistency of concepts familiar to a person, which he is guided by when making certain decisions.
The emergence of conflicting ideas, the presence of innate stubbornness. When a person does not want to follow and obey the ethical and cultural norms accepted in society.

How to Reduce Dissonance

This condition provokes the development of persistent internal contradiction, creating severe discomfort. For some, especially sensitive people internal stress causes the development of insomnia, apathy, and loss of interest in life.

How to get rid of cognitive dissonance

To reduce discomfort, the psychologist suggests using the following methods:

Change the behavioral line. If you feel that an action will be wrong, going against your beliefs, change your tactics, even completely abandoning any action.
Change your attitude (persuasion). To reduce the feeling of guilt and increase the feeling that the action is right, try to change your personal perception of the situation.
Dose out information. Try to perceive only the positive aspects of the current situation, while cutting off possible negativity. Negative emotions should not be taken seriously or should be avoided.
Study the situation from all sides. Find out all the nuances, facts and get a more complete perception, which will help you form a tolerant line of behavior for yourself. Make it the only correct one.
Enter additional elements. To stop the development of the syndrome, try to “dilute” it with some other factor. Main goal– reshape the current situation in a positive and more advantageous form.

Life situation

Imagine a completely ordinary situation. Do you have good job. A new boss arrives, with whom the work relationship does not work out. There are nagging on his part and inappropriate behavior. The director's rudeness makes you want to get rid of him. But a change of leadership without a change of job is impossible.

What to do, how to remove the existing discomfort? There are three exit options:

Pay off and leave the service.
Develop the ability to have a philosophical attitude towards a rude director and stop reacting to his attacks.
Endure, convincing yourself that the loss of a good job with a friendly, familiar team and a good salary outweighs the “minus” that is an unpleasant boss.

Any of the three options solves the problem and relieves cognitive dissonance. But the first creates additional difficulties (searching for another job). This option is the worst. Options 2 and 3 are the most gentle, but they also require work on yourself.

The scientist, studying cognitive dissonance and developing ways out of it, relied on a number of real life cases. Their knowledge helps to understand the essence of the situation and get rid of it with “little loss.”

Cognitive dissonance: examples from life

These real stories events that have happened to people are the most typical psychological examples of cognitive dissonance.

Example 1. During World War II, in an American camp where Japanese refugees lived, rumors arose about the deceitfulness of the Americans. People said that they were like that good conditions for the life that existed in the camp, the Americans organized it for a reason. Their friendliness is deceptive, and the supposedly decent way of life was created specifically to lull the vigilance of refugees in order to facilitate reprisals against them.

Japanese refugees spread such rumors due to an internal misunderstanding of the sincerity of the Americans. After all, in the minds of the Japanese, the United States is a country that is extremely hostile towards Japan.

Example 2. Taken from a fable. The well-known tale about grapes and the cunning hungry fox is a vivid example of cognitive dissonance. The beast really wants to taste the grapes, but cannot reach the berries on the high-growing vine. Then the fox, trying to remove the internal discomfort that has arisen, convinces itself that the grapes are green and sour.

Example 3. Let's talk to heavy smokers. They all know very well that the addiction has a negative impact on health, and smoking needs to be stopped. But the force of habit is stronger. A person justifies himself by saying that nothing will happen to him.

Creating inner confidence safe, the smoker cites as an example (to reassure) the fate of various celebrities. For example, Fidel Castro, who lived to a ripe old age without letting go of a cigar. The smoker concludes that the harm from nicotine is exaggerated - inner peace is gained and discomfort recedes.

The danger of cognitive dissonance

This feature of a person’s psychological makeup plays into the hands of many fraudulent manipulators. Knowing the basics and essence of the syndrome, you can skillfully manipulate people. After all, a person, fearing the appearance of an internal imbalance, is capable of agreeing to actions that are unacceptable to him.

In this case, scammers also play on the innate internal vanity that every individual has. For example, in order to “cheat” a person out of money, you should initially convince him of generosity by skillfully conducting a preliminary conversation. And then ask for money. The resulting cognitive dissonance plays into the hands of scammers. The victim gives money to maintain confidence in his own goodness.

The benefits of cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance can also be beneficial. In this case, you need to learn not to look for the first excuse that comes along in an attempt to drown out the internal contradiction. Instead, by calmly thinking, unravel the whole tangle of a disturbing situation, turning the inconvenience into a powerful incentive for self-development.

This is exactly what Zen Buddhists practice in their desire to know themselves. They artificially create a powerful state of cognitive dissonance, taking the individual beyond the usual logical perception of events.

Thus, a person approaches “satori” (full awakening). Zen Buddhists call this practice the “paradoxical parable koan.” It’s worth practicing - after all, a life based on internal harmony leads to longevity and prosperity.

Cognitive dissonance is a feeling of discomfort psychological nature. A person experiences it when there is a collision in his mind of two contradictory knowledge about the same event or object.

People are capable of performing actions that do not correspond to their thoughts. At the same time, actions contradict the beliefs that are part of the value system. In addition, situations arise in which a person becomes an eyewitness to some unpredictable events. In this case, a person commits actions that are contrary to his plans. It's all due to cognitive dissonance.

Examples of situations include the following.

For example, a person has planned a trip out of town and is sure that the weather will be fine. However, just before he leaves, it starts to rain. As a result, a person commits an act that is contrary to his plans - he does not go out of town.

In another case, a certain subject, completely confident in the futility of using automatic transmission gear, finds a very convincing article about its benefits. In this case, cognitive dissonance, albeit short-term, is formed on the basis of new knowledge about a subject.

It should be noted that numerous motivational theories began to appear in the works of ancient philosophers. Today there are several dozen of them. According to the latest concepts, the approach is preferred by many authors. In line with this theory, great importance is attached to human consciousness and knowledge.

Among all the theses put forward by the authors, the main one was considered to be the belief that ideas, knowledge, and opinions about events occurring in the world, consequences and causes have a guiding significance in an individual’s behavior. At the same time, knowledge is not considered a simple complex of information. Human ideas, the information he owns is designed and programmed for his behavior in the future. Thus, actions and their character depend not only on fixed human needs. Great value They also have relatively variable ideas about the real world.

The concept of “cognitive dissonance” was proposed by Leon Festinger. By this definition he meant a certain contradiction between cognitions (two or more). The term "cognition" is explained by Festinger as follows: it is any opinion, knowledge or belief that concerns the environment, one's own behavior or oneself.

A person experiences cognitive dissonance in the form of discomfort. A person strives to get rid of this feeling, to restore inner harmony.

Cognitive dissonance is also typical for situations when a person has made a difficult decision. In such cases, there is a need to choose between alternative options, close to each other in attractiveness. After a choice is made, the individual feels discomfort associated with contradictions. In particular, a person thinks that the option he has chosen contains negative features, while at the same time that there was something positive in the rejected solutions. Thus, what is accepted becomes partly bad, but accepted. What is rejected is partially positive. However, it is not accepted.

As studies of the consequences of difficult decisions show, after making, over time, there is an increase in the subjective attractiveness of the chosen option. At the same time, the subjective attractiveness of the rejected solution decreases. Thus, the individual relieves himself of cognitive dissonance by convincing himself that the option he has chosen is not only slightly, but much better than the alternative solutions that were rejected by him.

Last update: 10/08/2014

People like to be consistent in their beliefs and views. So what happens when one of our beliefs comes into conflict with another, earlier one? The term "cognitive dissonance" is used to describe the discomfort that results from the contradiction of two beliefs. When there is a discrepancy between a person's beliefs and behavior, he should change something in himself to eliminate or reduce it.
Psychologist Leon Festinger proposed a theory of cognitive dissonance, which centers on a person's attempts to reach agreement with himself. He suggested that people have an internal need to ensure that behavior is consistent with their beliefs. Inconsistent or contradictory beliefs lead to disharmony, which people strive to avoid.
In his book The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, Festinger explained: “Cognitive dissonance can be thought of as a precursor to dissonance-reducing activity—just as hunger leads to hunger-reducing activity. This vision is different from the one with which psychologists are accustomed to dealing, but, as we will see, it is nevertheless justified.”
The degree of dissonance may depend on several various factors, including how highly we value a particular belief and the degree to which our beliefs are inconsistent with each other.
Cognitive dissonance often has a strong influence on our behavior and our actions. Let's look at some examples!

Cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance can occur in any area of life, but it is especially evident in cases where an individual's behavior contradicts beliefs that are integral to his self-identity. For example, consider a situation in which an environmentally conscious person purchases a new car - and suddenly discovers that it gets too much gas mileage. This results in a conflict: caring for the environment is important to him, but his car cannot be considered environmentally friendly.
In order to reduce this dissonance between belief and behavior, he can choose one of several options. He can sell this car and buy a new one with lower gas mileage, or simply reconsider his attitude towards protection environment. If the second option is chosen, its dissonance can be further reduced through actions that still reduce the impact of such a car on the environment - for example, more frequent use of public transport or cycling to work.
A more common example is our decisions to purchase a particular product (which we make regularly). Most people want to believe what they do right choice. When a product or item purchased by us turns out to be poor quality, the situation comes into conflict with our confidence in our decision-making abilities.

“A person who continues to smoke despite knowing how smoking affects his health may believe that: (a) he enjoys smoking enough that it is worth it; (b) the risk that his health will suffer is not as great as some claim; (c) he cannot always avoid unforeseen dangerous circumstances - and, nevertheless, is still alive; and (d) even if he quits smoking, he will gain weight, which will equally be bad for his health. So, by continuing to smoke, he, in the end, corresponds to his beliefs about smoking.”

L. Festinger (1957)

“Imagine that you are getting ready for a dinner party at home. You've compiled a guest list, sent out invitations, and prepared a menu. Nothing caused any particular difficulties for you: you went to the store, prepared the ingredients and prepared the treat for several hours - anticipating pleasant conversations and meeting with people dear to you. But it's not that simple. The guests arrived late, conversations were necessary, and the food had already been digested by the time the guests arrived. Anticipation and excitement before a pleasant pastime comes into clear conflict with your observations of the course of the evening. The mosaic doesn't work out. You are upset - partly, not because the evening was not a success, but because of the discrepancy between your expectations and experience. You are suffering from an uncomfortable, unpleasant state of cognitive dissonance.”

Cooper (2007)

How to reduce cognitive dissonance?

There are three key strategies for minimizing cognitive dissonance:

focus on more favorable beliefs that outweigh the dissonant belief or behavior;
reduce the significance of a contradictory belief for you;
change a controversial belief so that it is consistent with other beliefs or behavior.

Why is cognitive dissonance important to us?

Cognitive dissonance plays a role in the formation of many value judgments, decisions and evaluations. Awareness of how conflicting beliefs influence the decision-making process is great way improve your ability to make faster and more accurate decisions.

Notes from psychologists

“The main hypotheses that I would like to present are the following: 1. A state of dissonance, causing psychological discomfort, will motivate a person to try to reduce dissonance and achieve harmony. 2. When faced with dissonance—in addition to trying to reduce it—the person will actively avoid situations and information that are likely to increase it.”