What is Cognitive Dissonance and How Do You Reduce it?

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Cognitive dissonance can have destructive consequences for society when it’s not resolved. When people are in a state of cognitive dissonance, they’re more likely to act out aggressively or lash out at others. It can also cause people to make poor decisions that might be harmful to themselves or others. If you have a traumatic memory that is causing you to feel cognitive dissonance, cognitive dissonance treatment try forgiving the people who hurt you. This can be difficult, but it will help resolve some of your feelings of anger or resentment towards them so that they won’t cause as much suffering for you in the present moment. When you conflict with someone or something, that creates feelings of uncertainty and inconsistency within yourself which can lead to cognitive dissonance.

Cognitive bias: What it is and how to overcome it

When you don’t feel able to change your experience of cognitive dissonance, your mental health can deteriorate. Again, we are not supposed to enjoy existing in a place where our beliefs and behaviors or lifestyles are in disharmony, and when we feel unable to fix that problem, we are likely to become depressed, anxious, or despondent. As https://ecosoberhouse.com/ humans, we tend to seek consistency in our beliefs and actions. So, when you have two conflicting thoughts at the same time, or when you engage in behavior that conflicts with your beliefs, you are apt to feel a sense of discomfort. And, if you’re like most people, when you are in a state of dissonance, you feel a need to resolve it.

Cognitive dissonance is the unpleasant mental state that may result if someone really does have certain beliefs but thinks or acts in a way that contradicts them. Simply being more aware of how your thoughts and actions fit together can help you better understand what’s important to you, even if you don’t eliminate the dissonance. It can become problematic if it leads you to justify or rationalize behaviors that could be harmful. Or you may get caught up in trying to rationalize the dissonance to the point of stressing yourself out.

Body Image and Health Intervention

When people experience cognitive dissonance, they have to make a change in their thinking to reduce the amount of mental stress or discomfort that’s being caused. This can be done by either changing their beliefs, ideas, or values to match each other better OR dismissing one of the conflicting thoughts, feelings, or attitudes. Cognitive dissonance is a psychological state of discomfort that occurs when your behaviors and beliefs do not align. An example of cognitive dissonance includes smoking even though you know it’s bad for you and feeling guilty because of it.

Otherwise it wouldn’t make sense why we would choose the lower-rated school. Forced compliance, when you’re pressured to do or say something you’d rather not, can cause cognitive dissonance. Confirmation bias is when you interpret new information in a way that fits your existing beliefs. This can cause you to disregard other potentially important information in the situation. Cognitive dissonance and its impact on preferences can sometimes lead to confirmation bias. You value truth above all else because it helps you learn and grow.

PositivePsychology.com’s Relevant Resources

A man who learns that his eating habits raise his risk of illness feels the tension between his preferred behavior and the idea that he could be in danger. He might ease this feeling by telling himself that the health warning is exaggerated or, more productively, by deciding to take action to change his behavior. If a woman reads that her favorite politician has done something immoral, she could conclude that the charges have been invented by his enemies—or, instead, rethink her support. In better understanding cognitive dissonance and the role it plays in most of our lives, we can be on the lookout for it and its sometimes-negative effects.

And while it’s important to give news and opinions that conflict with yours a critical assessment, don’t forget to occasionally apply that same scrutiny to your own beliefs. Unlike hypocrisy, cognitive dissonance threatens our identity and sense of self. That’s why it’s important to recognize what it is and what it feels like — if you don’t, then it will be that much harder to live an authentic life aligned with your personal values. All of those routes help you get back to a mental state without conflict, where you feel like your beliefs, values, and actions are all in harmony. But each way of reducing dissonance requires that you recognize what feelings you have and do something about it, Curry adds. On a big-picture level, we have cognitive dissonance to thank for huge advancements within society.