Do you know cognitive dissonance?

Have you experienced the feeling of thinking one thing and doing another, without realizing that you hold two incompatible ideas? Do these situations generate tension or discomfort for you? This feeling you experience has a name, it is called cognitive dissonance.

In psychology, Cognitive dissonance is known as the tension or discomfort that we perceive when we hold two contradictory or incompatible ideas. or when our beliefs are not in harmony with what we do.

This psychological phenomenon occurs very frequently in our behavior. Sometimes our ideas contradict our behaviors. It happens when we see, for example, that we try to convince ourselves to go out with some friends without feeling like it. Later, away from home, we feel bad because we have forced ourselves to do something we didn’t want to.

Now, regardless of how striking these situations may seem to us, there is an aspect that we must understand. Cognitive dissonance can, despite everything, be an opportunity for personal growth. Resolving that discomfort and those contradictions are a means when investing in mental health.

Cognitive dissonance and social psychology

In 1957 a key work for social psychology was published. Was “Theory of Cognitive Dissonance”, an exceptional work carried out by psychologist Leo Festinger. In this work the term cognitive dissonance appeared for the first time, which explained how people try to maintain our internal consistency despite the contradictions between acts and values.

Often, as we have previously pointed out, we end up carrying out actions or behaviors that do not harmonize with our feelings or attitudes. This internal tension (that dissonance) makes us aware of the need to resolve this conflict to live with greater integrity. Where desires and acts, values ​​and behaviors are in balance.

The Festinger and Carlsmith experiment

Now, Festinger himself carried out an interesting study with his colleague Merrill Carlsmith, where they demonstrated something no less interesting: There are people who come to accept cognitive dissonance.

To demonstrate this, they asked the subjects, divided into three groups, to perform a task that they evaluated as very boring. They were then asked to lie and tell the next group that the exercise was very fun. Group 1 was let go without saying anything, Group 2 was paid $1 before lying, and Group 3 was paid $20.

A week later, Festinger called the study subjects to ask them what they thought of the task. Groups 1 and 3 responded that the task had been boring, while group 2 responded that they found it fun. Why did group members who had received only $1 say the task was fun?

The researchers concluded that people experience dissonance between conflicting cognitions. Upon receiving only 1 dollar, the students were forced to change their thinking, since they had no other justification for lying. (1 dollar was insufficient and produced cognitive dissonance). Those who had received $20, however, had an external justification for their behavior, and therefore experienced less dissonance.

What do we do when faced with cognitive dissonance?

When we experience tension or discomfort due to the existence of two incompatible ideas, we will try to eliminate it or avoid the situation and information. that can increase it. That is, we will try to reduce the dissonance we experience. To reduce it we can do it in several ways, such as changing behavior, altering the environment or avoiding information about what worries us. Thus, we can find that almost all of us have fallen into cognitive dissonance.

Imagine a person with deep-rooted and strong anti-war values ​​who finds themselves involved in a war. In that context, he may have to fight and even kill. It is logical that he feels a strong contradiction within himself, so it would be likely that he would resort to changes in his mentality to justify it, such as love of country or avoiding the greater evil.

We can change beliefs in many ways, but maintaining our objective.or final that would be to give more value to the chosen option,

Dissonance and self-deception

As you can imagine, the differences between cognitive dissonance and lying walk very close to the limit that separates them. Sometimes attempts to reduce discomfort by forcing a change of mind (when extrinsic motivation is very strong) turn into self-deception. That is, we tell ourselves a lie and believe it, instead of resolving the dissonance.

First I act, then I justify my action

As we see, Cognitive dissonance explains our tendency to self-justify. The anxiety or tension that comes with the possibility that we have made a wrong decision or that we have done something wrong can lead us to invent new reasons or justifications to support our decision or action.

It’s important pointing that Cognitive dissonance only occurs when subjects have freedom of choice when performing the behavior. If we are forced to do something against our will, this tension does not occur (although convincing ourselves that we were forced can also serve as self-justification to reduce discomfort).

Discovering a liar with cognitive dissonance

Detecting a dissonance in another person is also helpful. Discomfort and guilt are always palpable, so you can press in that direction to bring to light what is bothering you inside.

When the subject is not able to reduce the internal tension they are feeling, it escalates and ends up producing a personal crisis. For example, someone who has been unfaithful to his partner may tell lies to himself, but he will have to see who he has deceived every day. The impossibility of escaping this could make him confess to alleviate the guilt of his actions.

But is it bad for us to reduce cognitive dissonance?

In principle no, since it is a mechanism that we use for our well-being. It helps us face difficult personal situations, train our analytical thinking and, above all, it is a protective factor for our vision of the world.

The essential thing is to be aware of when we use it so as not to fall into self-deception. That’s why It is very important to know that we are using the mechanism of cognitive dissonance, so as not to lead to self-deception, criticism and lies.

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