Cognitive dissonance - what is this concept in psychology? Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance: how to recognize the problem and cope with it Ways to reduce the feeling of cognitive dissonance

In this article we will take a closer look at the concept of dissonance. What it is? In what areas is it used?

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 relating to general problems of the 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, once again he eats it. At the same time, he hopes not to get sick again. This is a clear example of 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.

Irrelevant relationships

Two elements may simply have nothing in common. In other words, under such circumstances, when one cognitive element is not transferred anywhere

intersects with another element, these two elements are neutral, or irrelevant, By attitude towards each other.

For example, let us imagine a person who knows that a letter from New York to Paris, sent by regular sea mail, can take 2 weeks, and that a dry, hot July is very good for a rich grain harvest in Iowa. These two elements of knowledge have nothing in common with each other, i.e. they are irrelevant in relation to each other. Of course, it is difficult to say anything definite about such irrelevant relationships, except that they exist. The focus of our attention will be only those pairs of elements between which relations of consonance or dissonance arise.

In many cases, however, it is very difficult to decide whether two elements are irrelevant. Often this is simply impossible to determine without taking into account the knowledge of the individual. Sometimes it may happen that, due to the nature of the actual behavior of a given person, previously irrelevant elements can become relevant in relation to each other. This could happen even in the above example. If a person living in Paris were trading grain in the United States, he would certainly want to know the weather forecast for Iowa, although information about the delivery times of mail from New York to Paris would still remain for him insignificant.

Before we proceed to define and discuss the relations of consonance and dissonance that exist between relevant elements, it would be useful to emphasize once again the special character of those cognitive elements that are relevant to the behavior of the individual. Such a “behavioural”

a cognitive element, being relevant to each of two irrelevant cognitive elements, can make them actually relevant to each other.

Relevant relationships:

By this point, the reader has probably already formed an idea of ​​the nature of the phenomenon of dissonance. Two elements are dissonant with respect to each other if for some reason they do not correspond to each other.

We can now move on to attempt a more formal conceptual definition.

Let us consider two elements that exist in human knowledge and are relevant in relation to each other. Dissonance theory ignores the existence of all other cognitive elements that are relevant to either of the two elements being analyzed and treats only these two elements separately. Two elements taken separately are in a dissonant relationship if the negation of one element follows from the other. We can say that X and Y are in a dissonant relation if X does not follow from Y. So, for example, if a person knows that only friends are in his environment, but nevertheless experiences fears or uncertainty, this means that there is a dissonant relationship between these two cognitive elements. Or another example: a person, having large debts, purchases a new car; in this case, the corresponding cognitive elements will be dissonant in

attitude towards each other. Dissonance may exist due to acquired experience or expectations, or because of what is considered proper or accepted, or for any of a variety of other reasons.

Drives and desires are also factors that determine whether two elements are dissonant or not. For example, a person playing cards for money can continue to play and lose, knowing that his partners are professional players. This last knowledge would be dissonant with the awareness of his own behavior, namely, that he continues to play. But in order to identify these elements as dissonant in this example, it is extremely important to accept with a sufficient degree of probability that the individual is trying to win. If, for some strange reason, this person wants to lose, then this relationship would be consonantal.

I will give a number of examples where dissonance between two cognitive elements arises for various reasons.

1. Dissonance can arise due to logical incompatibility. If an individual believes that in the near future a person will land on Mars, but at the same time believes that people are still not able to make a spaceship suitable for this purpose, then these two knowledge are dissonant with respect to each other. The negation of the content of one element follows from the content of another element based on elementary logic.

2. Dissonance may arise due to cultural customs. If a person at a formal banquet picks up a chicken leg with his hand, the knowledge of what he is doing is dissonant in

in relation to knowledge that defines the rules of formal etiquette during an official banquet. Dissonance arises for the simple reason that it is this culture that determines what is decent and what is not. In another culture, these two elements may not be dissonant.

3. Dissonance can arise when one specific opinion is part of a more general opinion. Thus, if a person is a Democrat but votes for the Republican candidate in a given presidential election, the cognitive elements corresponding to these two sets of opinions are dissonant with respect to each other, because the phrase “being a Democrat” includes, by definition, It is extremely important to support Democratic Party candidates.

4. Dissonance can arise based on past experience. If a person gets caught in the rain and, however, hopes to stay dry (not having an umbrella), then these two knowledge will be dissonant with respect to each other, since he knows from past experience that it is impossible to stay dry while standing in the rain. If it were possible to imagine a person who has never been caught in the rain, then the specified knowledge would not be dissonant.

These examples are sufficient to illustrate how the conceptual definition of dissonance can be used empirically to decide whether two cognitive elements are dissonant or consonant. Of course, it is clear that in any of these situations there may be other elements of knowledge that happen to be in a consonantal relationship with either of the two elements in the pair in question. However, the relationship between two elements is dissonant if, ignoring all other elements, one from elements of the pair leads to the denial of the meaning of the other.

The definition of the relations of consonance and irrelevance follows from the definition of the relations of dissonance. If in a pair of elements one of them leads to confirmation of the meaning of the other element, then the relationship between them is consonantal. If neither the negation nor the confirmation of the meaning of the second element of the pair follows from the first element, then the relationship between them is irrelevant.

The conceptual definitions of dissonance and consonance do not, however, provide a sufficient basis for creating a valid instrument for measuring the degree of dissonance. If we strive to confirm the theory of dissonance with empirical data, it is necessary first of all to ensure the accurate identification of the phenomena of dissonance and consonance. It is hopeless to attempt to obtain a complete list of all cognitive elements, and, even if such a list were available, in some cases it will be difficult or simply impossible to determine a priori which of the three possible types of connections occurs in a given case. Much more often, however, the a priori definition of dissonance is clear and precise. (Let us also remember that two cognitive elements are dissonant for a person living in one cultural environment, but not for a person living in another, or for a person with one past experience, but not for a person with another experience.) We will return to This major measurement problem will be addressed in more detail in the chapters that discuss empirical data.

Dissonance and consonance - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Dissonance and Consonance" 2017, 2018.

“It is not the strongest or the smartest who survive, but those who best adapt to change.”
Charles Darwin

Psychologists call the state of an individual caused by contradictions in his mind between several ideas and concepts, accompanied by a feeling of internal discomfort, cognitive dissonance.

This term was coined in 1944, it was first voiced by Fritz Heider, and the author of the theory of the same name, formulated later, was the American Leon Festinger. In his work devoted to the study of this phenomenon, the psychologist defined a person’s state of mind, outlined ways out of a psychological crisis, and also examined the most common examples of behavioral reactions associated with cognitive dissonance.

Cognitive dissonance is a condition characterized by a collision in a person’s mind of conflicting knowledge, beliefs, and behavioral attitudes regarding some object or phenomenon.

The essence of the theory boils down to the following: a person’s beliefs largely determine his actions in life situations and determine his position on most significant issues. Thus, it is impossible to interpret them only as a sum of knowledge, since they are motivational factors. Festinger took two behavioral hypotheses as a basis, according to which an individual will always be strive to overcome psychological discomfort caused by a discrepancy between his own beliefs and personal experience and information received from the outside. Moreover, in the future a person will try in every possible way to avoid situations that cause such a state.

An experiment to test the theory in action was conducted by J. Brehm, who invited a group of subjects to evaluate various household appliances. After this, participants were allowed to take any item of their choice as a reward. A repeated survey showed that people spoke laudably about the products they had chosen, while they tried to find shortcomings in the rejected ones. From Brem's point of view, this behavior well illustrates the theory of cognitive scientists. The subjects, having made their choice, tried in every possible way to justify it. The positive aspects of the chosen subject were exaggerated, while the negative ones, on the contrary, were smoothed out.

To people far from science, the theory of cognitive dissonance seems to be something not very clear. In fact, behind the complex terms lies a phenomenon that each of us, without knowing it, encounters almost every day. Let's try to explain what this is in simple words, using clear examples.

The term “cognitive” in psychology is usually understood as knowledge, and the term “dissonance” is used by musicians to denote a discordant sound. Thus, cognitive dissonance is the discrepancy between two ideas in the mind of an individual. To eliminate the emotional distress caused by such a situation, it is necessary for the cognitions to sound in unison. This can only be achieved by eliminating contradictions.

Smokers serve as a clear illustration. Any reasonable person understands that a bad habit causes irreparable harm to health. Awareness of this fact undoubtedly has a depressing effect on the psyche. But at the same time, one is doing everything possible to get rid of the addiction, while the other chooses the path of least resistance, convincing himself that nothing bad will happen to him.

In support, examples of famous people are given: Fidel Castro, who did not let a cigar out of his mouth, lived to a ripe old age. Based on this, it is concluded that the harm from smoking is greatly exaggerated. Inner peace is achieved without much effort, by simply eliminating “extra” information.

Of particular interest is the fact that people are ready to go far in justifying their actions and this is much easier for them than admitting they are wrong. Festinger quickly realized that most of the mysterious behavior patterns of people are nothing more than a consequence of cognitive dissonance and the desire to deal with it. The practical implication that follows from Festinger's theory is that most of us are easily manipulated by other people or the media. This can only be avoided by working on oneself, careful introspection, and developing willpower.

What are the causes of cognitive dissonance?

A state of cognitive dissonance can occur in any of us and, unfortunately, this happens more often than we would like. By building psychological defense, a person filters out information that does not fit into the framework of his worldview. Everything you don’t want to hear automatically goes into the category: “this can’t be true.”

Perhaps, in some cases, maintaining peace of mind at the expense of ignoring the truth is acceptable. But in general, such behavior leads to moral degradation, since a person becomes easily controlled. Logical thinking and analysis are replaced by an emotional component, under the influence of which decisions are made. For the sake of preserving his beliefs and peace of mind, an individual easily refuses knowledge that does not fit into his value system.

Often, cognitive dissonance is associated with certain obligations that we place on ourselves, guided by personal beliefs or public morality. A woman living with a tyrant husband convinces herself that she is doing this for the sake of her children, who should have a father. The wife of an alcoholic or reveler endures infidelity and binges for the sake of the status of a married lady, believing that society’s attitude towards “divorced women” is negative.

In fact, the reason lies much deeper, unwillingness and inability to make independent decisions, bear responsibility for them. Many people prefer to deny obvious facts in order to comply with imposed standards. People deceive themselves, often becoming victims of other people's manipulations.

How to get rid of cognitive dissonance?

Psychological discomfort causes unpleasant sensations, which can result in nervousness, loss of appetite, and loss of interest in life. A person’s first reaction will be a desire to reduce tension or get rid of it altogether. What needs to be done to find peace of mind?

Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance offers several options for overcoming a psychological crisis:

1. A radical change in behavior. This may include, among other things, refusal of actions or intentions that contradict moral principles and beliefs;
2. Changing your personal attitude to what is happening, for cases when circumstances do not depend on you;
3. Using dosed information to create a positive attitude. There is no need to accumulate negative emotions; try to find as many positives as possible in the situation.

Example

Let’s imagine an ordinary life situation: you have a great job, but you’re unlucky with your boss. This person’s behavior can hardly be called correct. His rudeness infuriates him, but it is impossible to change his superiors without changing his place of service.

You have three options:

• quit;
• stop paying attention to offensive attacks;
• convince yourself that a good team and a big salary outweigh the “minus” of an unbalanced boss.

Each of them solves your problem in its own way. However, the first one creates difficulties in finding a new job, so it is not always acceptable. The second and third are softer, you don’t lose anything, you even gain. But in this case, you will have to work on yourself to change your attitude towards what is happening.

How to deal with the problem?

One of the most accessible ways to cope with the phenomenon of dissonance and the consequences associated with it is to accept the current circumstances and adapt to them. “If life gives you a sour lemon, make delicious lemonade,” advised Dale Carnegie. There is no point in digesting what has already happened over and over again, worrying, asking the question: “Did I do the right thing?” It would be wiser to make the most of the current situation for yourself or consider it as a lesson for the future.

The famous Soviet actor Vaclav Dvorzhetsky spent part of his adult life in Stalin's camps. When asked how he managed to survive in such difficult conditions, maintaining health and love of life, he replied that he remembers his time in prison as the best years of his life. Despite everyday difficulties, backbreaking work and lack of normal nutrition, there he was surrounded by people close in their way of thinking, that is, in a state of mental comfort. In his memoirs, Dvorzhetsky wrote that his rich imagination helped him cope with the situation. Every time he went to work or fell asleep in a barracks, he imagined himself in a completely different environment, carried away in his dreams away from the surrounding reality.

Learn to admit your own mistakes

The state of cognitive dissonance in most cases arises due to a person’s reluctance to admit his own mistakes. Many consider their rightness to be undeniable, they are sure that everything should be only the way they imagine it. Such a life position does little to promote happiness and spiritual harmony.

The task of the individual is comprehensive development, which is impossible without broadening one’s horizons. The world around us is full of various phenomena, events and facts that may contradict our beliefs. The only right decision will be to accept it this way, to learn to look from different angles, without focusing only on your knowledge.

Other examples of cognitive dissonance

One of the most common cases is unexpected changes in weather conditions. And it’s true, very often people make plans for the weekend, confident that the weather will be sunny and clear. But waking up in the morning, they find a cloudy, cloudy sky, or even rain or downpour. And the dissonance that arises is completely justified - the person was firmly confident in the future, but the unexpected happened. It’s easy to get out of this situation - you just need to not change your plans and accept that a great trip is possible even in cloudy weather.

Also a very common situation arises regarding people different social levels. It happens that a dirty tramp gets thoughtful and throws the wrapper in the trash, but a respectable young man does not attach any importance to this and throws it at his feet. Why not dissonance?

A person of full physique may develop a desire to lose weight and get his body in good shape, but he will come to the realization that he will have to completely change his lifestyle, start systematically exercising and eating normally. This will do at odds with his beliefs, lifestyle. And the way out of this situation is to change life principles, because for the sake of some goals you have to change your own foundations.

May experience cognitive dissonance and ideas about some people. For example, a person whom you know very well - quiet and modest, in some situation shows you his other side - violent and aggressive. This will greatly affect awareness, and cognitive dissonance will arise. But we should still accept that people are versatile and, if we do not know some of their characteristics, this does not mean that they do not exist at all.

Every person at least once in his life has experienced a strange feeling when new information does not correspond to the idea and knowledge about it received earlier. Fritz Heider was the first to define this condition in 1944 - cognitive dissonance, and Leon Festinger developed its theory in 1957.

Cognitive dissonance - what is it?

Having studied the basic principles of the theory, psychologists came to the conclusion that cognitive dissonance is psychological discomfort that is caused by a discrepancy between existing concepts, ideas and incoming new information. The following motives and aspects of inconsistency often lead to:

• religious;
• moral;
• value-based;
• emotional.

Cognitive dissonance - psychology

Each individual accumulates some experience over a certain period of time. However, overcoming time intervals, he is forced to function according to existing circumstances that do not fit in with previously acquired knowledge. This causes internal psychological discomfort, to alleviate which a compromise must be found. Cognitive dissonance in psychology means trying to explain the reason for a person’s action, his actions in a variety of life situations.

Causes of cognitive dissonance

The phenomenon of cognitive dissonance can occur for several reasons. Psychologists include the following among common provoking factors:

• Inconsistency of concepts and ideas on which this or that decision is based.
• Different life beliefs compared to the norms accepted in society or in a certain group.
• A rebellious spirit of contradiction, which is caused by a reluctance to obey ethical and cultural social norms, especially if they run counter to the legal framework.
• Inconsistency with data obtained as a result of any experience, conditions or situation.

Cognitive dissonance - symptoms

The state of cognitive dissonance can manifest itself in different ways. For most, the first signals appear during the labor process. Brain activity is hampered, and situations requiring analysis can get out of control. New information is perceived with great difficulty, and drawing a conclusion is a problem. In later stages, speech function may be impaired, and it becomes difficult for a person to formulate a thought, choose the right words and simply pronounce them.

Cognitive dissonance takes the brunt of memory. Events that happened recently are erased first. The next alarming signal is the disappearance of memories from adolescence and childhood. Less common, but one that needs to be taken into account is lack of ability. It becomes difficult for a person to grasp the essence of the conversation; he constantly asks to repeat certain sentences or individual phrases. All these symptoms indicate the need for consultation with a neurologist.

Cognitive dissonance - types

Many psychologists believe that emotion is not a mental state, but a response of the human body to a certain situation. There is a theory according to which cognitive-emotional dissonance is defined as a state of negative emotions that occurs when receiving psychologically contradictory information. A situation in which the expected results will appear will help change the situation.

Cognitive dissonance - treatment

Cognitive personality dissonance is directly related to the causes of the disorder. Therapy should be aimed at correcting and eliminating pathological conditions in the brain. To treat the underlying disease, improve and restore cognitive functions, specialists prescribe a number of medications that have neuroprotective properties. This helps prevent cognitive impairment in the future.

Cognitive dissonance - books

It is believed that a book is the best source of knowledge. Many works have been published that describe the concept of cognitive dissonance, intrapersonal conflict and disharmony (translated from Latin). Various sources provide types of mental conditions, causes of occurrence and ways to combat some of them. The main publications by psychologists include:

1. "The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance" Leon Festinger. The book significantly influenced the development of social psychology in the world. It analyzes and describes several key issues in detail. For example, the concept of cognitive dissonance and its theory, the peculiarities of social and psychological phenomena, methods and techniques of psychological influence.
2. "Psychology of influence" Robert Cialdini. Most domestic and Western psychologists recognized the manual as the best on issues of conflict management, social psychology and management.
3. "The cognitive dissonance" Alina Marchik. Everything must be harmonious (feelings, emotions, beliefs), otherwise a person is guaranteed discomfort, from which he gets rid of in different ways. The new action movie with detective elements will be appreciated by fans of riddles and puzzles - it is imbued with stories and adventures. The author gave a riddle that can have as many answers as there are people reading the book. What did the main characters do?

Cognitive dissonance is the mental stress or discomfort experienced by a person when forced to hold two or more contradictory ideas in his or her field of vision. Cognitive dissonance also occurs when a person encounters new information that contradicts his knowledge, beliefs, or values.

Who proposed the theory of cognitive dissonance?

The term “cognitive dissonance” and the corresponding theory were proposed by the American social psychologist Leon Festinger, a student of Kurt Lewin, back in 1957. It was this theory that brought the scientist universal recognition, and two years after its publication, Festinger was awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Science Award established by the American Psychological Association.

The theory of cognitive dissonance was proposed by a psychologist after incredible rumors about the consequences of earthquakes spread in several American states. Analyzing the reasons for the widespread belief in these rumors, Festinger suggested that a person, due to some of his internal characteristics, strives to achieve a balance between his knowledge and motives, on the one hand, and information coming from outside, on the other. This is how Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance was born.

Introduction to Dissonance Theory

A person tries to achieve internal harmony and coherence. This was known long before the appearance of Festinger's theory - many scientists and philosophers spoke about it. Leon Festinger pointed out precisely the desire of any person to put his beliefs and views in order, because inconsistent ideas bring with them disharmony and internal chaos.

In his scientific works, the American psychologist noted that cognitive dissonance is a special state, a kind of precursor to the activity that a person will try to develop in order to quickly get rid of unpleasant sensations. This is about the same as searching for food when a person is hungry.

The degree of manifestation of cognitive dissonance can vary. Of great importance in this case is how strong a person’s existing beliefs are, as well as the extent of their inconsistency with new knowledge. The authority of the source from which information that is recognized by a person as contradictory is also important.

What happens if a contradiction arises in a person’s system of knowledge and beliefs?

How does a person behave in a state of cognitive dissonance?

Sometimes a person experiencing dissonance recognizes that there is a discrepancy between his knowledge and behavior, but refuses to change anything. However, much more often a person tries to rationalize the contradiction. For example, he can drink liters of coffee and still realize that it is harmful to his health. And he will find excuses for himself: the coffee is delicious, it makes you want to sleep less, and your performance improves after a few cups. As a result, he convinces himself that everything is fine. There is no contradiction.

However, if the coffee drinker's heart begins to play around, his beliefs will no longer be consistent. Along with health problems will come psychological discomfort. A contradiction in beliefs arises, which soon develops into cognitive dissonance. This state prompts a person to make any changes, in our case - to reduce the amount of coffee consumed.

In what other situations does dissonance occur?

Cognitive dissonance is a condition that can manifest itself in completely different situations. For example, when it is necessary:

• explain strange, mixed feelings;
• minimize regrets about making the wrong choice;
• justify behavior that is inconsistent with existing views;
• change your opinion about another person;
• confirm an already existing belief when, in a situation of contradiction, a person tries to find references and sources that testify in favor of the correctness of his opinion.

Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance. Basic provisions

Together with the concept of cognitive dissonance, Festinger introduced the category of consonance. By consonance he understood a state in which a person’s beliefs, ideas and new knowledge are consistent with each other.

So, the theory of dissonance looked like this.

Proposition 1. The state of cognitive dissonance is a strong motivation. So, if a person experiences a contradiction, he will try to reduce its degree and, if possible, move to consonance.

Proposition 2. A person in a state of cognitive dissonance will try to avoid new knowledge or beliefs, the acceptance of which may mean an increase in the degree of dissonance.

How to Reduce Cognitive Dissonance

To reduce or minimize the state of cognitive dissonance, there are three main strategies.

1. Focus on more favorable beliefs. For example, a student is not preparing for an important test, which is only two days away. At the same time, he understands perfectly well that his knowledge is not enough to be marked “passed,” but he tells himself that there is still enough time before the retake, and he will definitely have time to learn everything.
2. Reduce the importance of conflicting beliefs. For example, a person learns that a sedentary lifestyle shortens life expectancy. However, he works in an office and cannot afford to move more during the day. And then the person tells himself that a healthy diet can compensate for a forced sedentary lifestyle.
3. Change conflicting beliefs so that they are consistent with each other. This strategy is considered one of the most effective, but it is quite difficult to successfully implement it. The hardest time is when beliefs are already firmly rooted in consciousness.

Has the theory of cognitive dissonance found any practical application? Without a doubt.

Practical application of the theory of cognitive dissonance

Festinger's cognitive dissonance not only explains some inappropriate human behavior. It also found practical applications in many areas of human life.

For example, a teacher can stimulate students' desire to learn something new by causing them cognitive dissonance. To do this, he can challenge the point of view of one or more of his students and invite them to conduct practical experiments. This is how students become motivated to learn.

The theory of cognitive dissonance is often used by marketers: entire sales strategies are built on its principles. For example, the advertising slogan of one well-known Western company is “You take care of yourself and your family. Why not choose the best? causes cognitive dissonance in the buyer, coupled with a feeling of guilt for having enough money and not buying the best products for his loved ones.

Promotion of a healthy lifestyle is sometimes also built using the theory of cognitive dissonance. For example, shocking data on the number of deaths from AIDS at one time forced many to choose safe sex and start buying condoms.

In addition, practicing psychologists often cause cognitive dissonance in their clients. Why are they doing that? To show that some of the client’s beliefs are not true and greatly interfere with his life.

Conclusion

Cognitive dissonance very often becomes a companion in a person’s life. Its significance is great, although very often it remains unconscious. However, dissonance can be useful: it accompanies a situation of choice and can become an impetus for a person to take action or make serious changes.