Cognitive dissonance: Definition, effects, and examples

For example, long-term cannabis users have impaired learning, retention, and retrieval of dictated words, and both long-term and short-term users show deficits in – time estimation (Solowij et al., 2002), although how long these deficits persist is not yet known. As another example, chronic amphetamine and heroin users show a deficits in a range of cognitive skills, including verbal fluency, pattern recognition, planning, and the ability to shift attention from one frame of reference to another (Ornstein et al., 2000). The decisionmaking deficits resembled those observed in individuals with damage – to the prefrontal cortex, suggesting that both drugs alter function in that brain area (Rogers et al., 1999). To drive innovation and enhance the user experience, platform development engineers should leverage cutting-edge technologies, such as metaverse, cloud computing, and blockchain in the development of the pan-entertainment mobile live broadcast platform. This can optimize the live channel recommendation algorithm and personalize the platform to individual users.

• There are also individual differences in whether or not people act as this theory predicts.
• Over time, living out of integrity with our values begins to take its toll on our psychological well-being and mental health.
• This study, which is grounded in the theoretical framework of “Cognition-Emotion-Behavior intention,” develops an influencing mechanism model based on cognitive dissonance and self-efficacy.
• Imagine confronting a sunbather with the information that excessive sun exposure is the leading cause of skin cancer.
• The expectation of shared beliefs, values, and attitudes from family members can additionally influence romantic relationships.
• A careful functional analysis and identification of dysfunctional beliefs are important first steps in CBT.

It occurs in all of us frequently, not just when planning to diet and justifying a doughnut with a delayed diet start. Understanding your beliefs and values behind the inconsistencies is an opportunity to develop deeper self-knowledge. This includes refraining from judgment and instead being accepting of our observations. Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Positive CBT Exercises for free. These science-based exercises will provide you with detailed insight into Positive CBT and give you the tools to apply it in your therapy or coaching. By Kendra Cherry, MSEd

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the “Everything Psychology Book.”

Acquire new information that outweighs the dissonant beliefs.

Cognitive dissonance may help you make positive changes in your life, but it can also be destructive, especially when you look for ways to rationalize and continue harmful behaviors. If you’re experiencing cognitive dissonance, it’s best to ask yourself if the strategies you’re using to cope with it will result in a positive long-term outcome. In fact, according to Cooper (2007), “Festinger’s insistence that cognitive dissonance was like a drive that needed to be reduced implied that people were going to have to find some way of resolving their inconsistencies. People do not just prefer to eat, rather than starve; they are biologically driven to eat. Similarly, people who are in the throes of inconsistency in their social life are driven to resolve that inconsistency”.

When you do something or behave a certain way that goes against your values, you may experience cognitive dissonance. This clash of beliefs and disruption of thought can also occur if you have two or more conflicting beliefs and you’re torn between them. Psychologist Kia-Rai Prewitt, PhD, explains how to manage this feeling of discomfort, what’s known as cognitive dissonance, and how it can affect your mental health and other relationships when left unchecked. If cognitive dissonance fueled your self-destructive behavior, adding cognitive behavioral therapy to your treatment plan can help. Maintaining a rift between your beliefs and deeds is a form of false reasoning, but CBT aims to help you replace negative thought patterns with positive ones. A therapist trained in CBT techniques can teach you to use willpower and logical thinking to work through distorted justifications and deconstruct all the mechanisms you put in place to validate your drinking or drug habit.

Conflicts of Interest

Various psychological factors were significant in initiating and maintaining Rajiv’s dependence on alcohol. At the start of treatment, Rajiv was not keen engage to in the process of recovery, having failed at multiple attempts over the years (motivation to change, influence of past learning experiences with abstinence). Finally, many of the studies supporting the theory of cognitive dissonance have low ecological validity. For example, turning pegs (as in Festinger’s experiment) is an artificial task that doesn’t happen in everyday life. Notice that dissonance theory does not state that these modes of dissonance reduction will actually work, only that individuals who are in a state of cognitive dissonance will take steps to reduce the extent of their dissonance.

People attempt to relieve this tension in different ways, such as by rejecting, explaining away, or avoiding new information. But you can feel caught off guard when those values and beliefs are shaken by social pressures, the presence of new information or having to make a rushed last-minute decision. Sometimes, we can even get caught up in behaving or reacting a certain way that doesn’t necessarily align with how we really feel — and then we end up feeling lost. There’s a certain kind of confidence that comes with being grounded in your beliefs. It feels good knowing you’re able to uphold certain values, like the ones you learned from your parents and caregivers or the ones you’ve carved out for yourself based on your own personal experiences. The fortunate ones eventually see through their denial and decide that they have had enough.

Cognitive Dissonance in Recovery

It describes how people will be willing to increase their own delusional thinking in order to protect their current understanding. This goes a long way to explaining how individuals seem comfortable to hold onto ideas that appear so obviously irrational to other people. This theory may have important implications for those who are caught in addiction or who building a life in recovery. Maintaining an active addiction means living in a constant state of cognitive dissonance as you increasingly try to rationalize your substance use habits. For example, you might avoid learning about all the adverse ways drinking and drug use can affect your physical, mental and emotional health because doing so makes you feel anxious.

Aronson’s Revision of the idea of dissonance as an inconsistency between a person’s self-concept and a cognition about their behavior makes it seem likely that dissonance is really nothing more than guilt. The theory of cognitive dissonance has been widely researched in a number of situations to develop the basic idea in more detail, and various factors have been identified which may be important in attitude change. For example, when people smoke (behavior) and they know that smoking causes cancer (cognition), cognitive dissonance and addiction they are in a state of cognitive dissonance. In romantic relationships, important values represent hotspots for cognitive dissonance and typically center on big decisions, such as the wish to have children, lifestyle choices (e.g., buying a house vs. traveling the world), and issues related to family and friends. Discrepancy between an attitude and a behavior – eating a doughnut while thinking of reducing calorie intake – leads to psychological discomfort called cognitive dissonance (Harmon-Jones, 2019).

Change your relationship with change: Get comfortable being uncomfortable

Participants in the high-dissonance condition chose between a highly desirable product and one rated just 1 point lower on the 8-point scale. After reading the reports about the various products, individuals rated the products again. Female participants were informed they would be helping out in a study funded by several manufacturers.