The cognitive dissonance

The cognitive dissonance(from English words: cognitive - « informative" And dissonance - « lack of harmony") - a state of an individual characterized by a collision in his consciousness of contradictory knowledge, beliefs, behavioral attitudes regarding some object or phenomenon, in which the existence of one element results in the denial of another, and the feeling of psychological discomfort associated with this discrepancy.

Literally this means: “lack of harmony in cognition, or in a normal translation - discrepancy between what was received and what was expected.”

The concept of "cognitive dissonance" was first introduced by Leon Festinger in 1957.

Cognitive dissonance theory

The theory of cognitive dissonance was proposed by Leon Festinger in It explains conflict situations, which often arise “in the cognitive structure of one person.” The theory aims to explain and explore the state of cognitive dissonance that arises in a person as a reaction to a certain situation, the actions of individuals or the whole

Main hypotheses of the theory

• due to logical inconsistency;
• “due to cultural customs”;
• in the event that an individual opinion is part of a broader opinion;
• due to the discrepancy between past experience and the present situation.

Cognitive dissonance occurs due to a discrepancy between two "cognitions" (or "knowledges") of an individual. An individual, having information on any issue, is forced to neglect it when making a decision. As a result, a discrepancy (“dissonance”) arises between a person’s attitudes and his actual actions.

As a result of such behavior, there is a change in certain (which the situation influences in one way or another) person’s attitudes, and this change can be justified based on the fact that it is vital for a person to maintain the consistency of his knowledge.

Therefore, people are ready to justify their delusions: a person who has committed an offense or mistake is inclined to justify himself in his thoughts, gradually shifting his beliefs about what happened towards the fact that what happened was actually not so terrible. In this way, the individual “regulates” his thinking in order to reduce the conflict within himself.

Degree of dissonance

IN different situations, which arise in Everyday life, dissonance can increase or decrease - it all depends on the problem that faces the person.

Thus, the degree of dissonance will be minimal if a person, for example, gives money to a beggar on the street, who (apparently) does not really need alms. On the contrary, the degree of dissonance will increase many times over if a person faces a serious exam and he does not try to prepare for it.

Dissonance can (and does) arise in any situation when a person has to make a choice. Moreover, the degree of dissonance will increase depending on how important this choice is for the individual...

Reducing dissonance

It is clear that the existence of dissonance, regardless of the degree of its strength, forces a person to get rid of it completely, and if for some reason this is not yet possible, then to significantly reduce it. To reduce dissonance, a person can resort to four methods:

1. change your behavior;
2. change “cognition”, that is, convince yourself of the opposite;
3. filter incoming information regarding a given issue or problem.
4. development of the first method: apply the criterion of truth to the information received, admit your mistakes and act in accordance with a new, more complete and clear understanding of the problem.

Let's explain this in specific example. For example, a person is a heavy smoker. He receives information about the dangers of smoking - from a doctor, an acquaintance, from a newspaper or from another source. According to the information received, he will either change his behavior - that is, quit smoking, because he is convinced that it is too harmful to his health. Or he can deny that smoking is harmful to his body, try, for example, to find some information that smoking can be “beneficial” to some extent (for example, while he smokes, he does not gain excess weight, as happens when a person quits smoking), and thereby reduce the importance of negative information. This reduces the dissonance between his knowledge and actions. In the third case, he will try to avoid any information emphasizing the dangers of smoking.

Preventing and avoiding dissonance

In some cases, the individual can prevent the emergence of dissonance and, as a consequence, internal discomfort in that he will try to avoid any negative information regarding his problem. If dissonance has already arisen, then the individual can avoid increasing it by adding one or more cognitive elements “to the cognitive scheme” instead of the existing negative element (which generates dissonance). Thus, the individual will be interested in seeking information that would support his choice (his decision) and ultimately reduce or completely eliminate dissonance, while avoiding sources of information that will increase it. However, frequent such behavior by an individual can lead to negative consequences: A person may develop a fear of dissonance or prejudice, which is a dangerous factor influencing the individual's worldview.

A relationship of incongruity (dissonance) may exist between two (or more) cognitive elements. When dissonance occurs, the individual strives to reduce its degree, avoid it, or get rid of it completely. This desire is justified by the fact that a person sets as his goal a change in his behavior, a search for new information regarding the situation or object that “generated dissonance.”

It is understandable that it is much easier for a person to agree with the existing state of affairs by adjusting his internal installations according to the current situation, instead of continuing to be tormented by the question of whether he did the right thing. Often dissonance arises as a consequence of making important decisions. Choosing from two equally tempting alternatives is not easy for a person, however, having finally made this choice, a person often begins to feel “dissonant cognitions”, that is, positive sides the option he refused, and the not very positive features of what he agreed with. To suppress (weaken) dissonance, a person tries with all his might to exaggerate the significance of the decision he has made, while simultaneously downplaying the importance of the rejected one. As a result, the other alternative loses all attractiveness in his eyes.

Literature

see also

Links

• Festinger L. Introduction to the theory of dissonance. // Festinger L. Theory of cognitive dissonance. - St. Petersburg: Yuventa, 1999. - P. 15-52.
• Deryabin A. A. Self-concept and the theory of cognitive dissonance: a review of foreign literature.

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

See what “Cognitive dissonance” is in other dictionaries:

THE COGNITIVE DISSONANCE- (eng. cognitive dissonance) the experience of discomfort arising from actions that go against one’s own beliefs (attitudes). An internal problem, an intrapersonal conflict, can be resolved by changing beliefs or interpretation... ... Great psychological encyclopedia

- (lat. dissonans discordant sounding, cognitio knowledge, cognition) concept in social psychology, which explains the influence of a system of cognitive elements on human behavior, describing the formation of social motivations under their influence... ... Newest philosophical dictionary

- (cognitive dissonance) A condition characterized by a collision in the individual’s mind of conflicting knowledge, beliefs, and behavioral attitudes regarding some object or phenomenon. A person seeks to overcome cognitive dissonance by... ... Dictionary of business terms

Intellectual conflict that occurs when existing opinions and ideas are contradicted by new information. Discomfort or tension caused by conflict can be relieved through one of several protective actions: individual... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia

English dissonance, cognitive; German cognitive dissonance. According to L. Festinger, a state characterized by a collision in the individual’s mind of conflicting knowledge, beliefs, and behavioral attitudes regarding k.l. object or phenomenon that causes... Encyclopedia of Sociology

Noun, number of synonyms: 1 inadequate state (1) ASIS Dictionary of Synonyms. V.N. Trishin. 2013… Synonym dictionary

the cognitive dissonance- pažinimo disonansas statusas T sritis švietimas apibrėžtis Asmenybės būsena, atsirandanti dėl žinojimo, įsitikinimų ir veiklos bei elgesio prieštaravimų. Esant pažinimo disonanso būsenai, išgyvenamas vidinis nepatogumas (diskomfortas) arba… … Enciklopedinis edukologijos žodynas

The cognitive dissonance– this is a negative state in which individuals experience mental discomfort caused by confrontation in their minds of contradictory ideas, values, knowledge, worldviews, ideas, beliefs, behavioral attitudes or reactions of an emotional nature.

The concept of cognitive dissonance was first proposed by L. Festinger, a specialist in the field of psychology of thought control. In his research during the analysis of the individual’s worldview, he was based on the principles of balance. He began his theory with the postulate that individuals strive for a certain coherence as a necessary internal state. When contradictions arise among individuals between their knowledge base and actions, they strive to somehow explain such a contradiction, as a result of which they present it as a “non-contradiction” in order to achieve a sense of internal cognitive coherence.

Causes of cognitive dissonance

The following factors are identified that cause a state of cognitive dissonance, as a result of which individuals often feel internal dissatisfaction:

- logical inconsistency;

- the dissimilarity of one person’s opinion with the generally accepted one;

- reluctance to follow cultural norms established in a certain territory, where traditions are sometimes guided more than by legislation;

- a conflict between an already experienced experience and a similar new situation.

Cognitive personality dissonance arises due to the inadequacy of the individual’s two cognitions. A person, having information on a problem, is forced to ignore it when making a decision and, as a result, a discrepancy or dissonance appears between the individual’s ideas and his actual actions. Due to similar behavior there is a change in certain ideas of the individual. Such a change is justified based on the vital need of a person to maintain the consistency of his own knowledge.

That is why humanity is ready to justify its own mistakes, because an individual who has committed an offense tends to look for excuses for himself in his thoughts, while gradually shifting his own attitudes regarding what happened in the direction that what happened in reality is not so terrible. In this way, the individual “manages” his own thinking in order to minimize confrontation within himself.

Festinger's modern theory of cognitive dissonance finds its goal in the study and interpretation of contradictions that arise both in individual human individuals and in groups of people.

Everyone, over a certain period of time, acquires a certain amount of life experience, but beyond the time limit, he must function according to the circumstances in which he exists, contrary to the acquired knowledge. This will cause psychological discomfort. And to alleviate such discomfort, the individual has to find a compromise.

Cognitive dissonance in psychology is an attempt to explain motivation human actions, their actions in a variety of everyday situations. And emotions are the main motive for appropriate behavior and actions.

In the concept of cognitive dissonance, logically contradictory knowledge is assigned the status of motivation, which is designed to ensure the elimination of the emerging feeling of discomfort when faced with inconsistencies through the transformation of existing knowledge or social prescriptions.

The author of the theory of cognitive dissonance, L. Festinger, argued that this state is the strongest motivation. According to the classical formulation of L. Festinger, cognitive dissonance is a discrepancy between thoughts, attitudes, information, etc., while the denial of one concept comes from the existence of another.

The concept of cognitive dissonance characterizes methods for eliminating or smoothing out such contradictions and demonstrates how an individual does this in typical cases.

Cognitive dissonance - examples from life: two individuals entered the institute, one of whom was a medalist, and the second was a C student. Naturally, the teaching staff expects excellent knowledge from a medal winner, but nothing is expected from a C student. Dissonance occurs when such a C student answers the question more competently, more comprehensively and completely than the medalist.

Cognitive dissonance theory

Most motivational theories were first discovered in the works of ancient philosophers. Today there are already several dozen such theories. In modern psychological teachings about motivation, which claim to explain human behavior, the prevailing approach today is the cognitive approach to the motivational sphere of the individual, in which phenomena associated with the understanding and knowledge of the individual are of particular importance. The main postulate of the authors of cognitive concepts was the point of view that the behavioral reactions of subjects are guided by knowledge, judgments, attitudes, ideas, views about what is happening in the world, opinions about the causes and their consequences. Knowledge is not a simple collection of data. An individual’s ideas about the world predetermine and construct future behavior. Everything an individual does and how he does it depends not so much on fixed needs, deep aspirations and eternal desires, but on relatively changeable ideas about reality.

Cognitive dissonance in psychology is a state of discomfort in the individual’s psyche, provoked by the confrontation of conflicting ideas in his mind. The socio-psychological study of cognitions was developed to explain changes in cognitions (opinions, attitudes, attitudes) as a method of eliminating logical conflict situations.

Cognitive personality dissonance is characterized by a specific feature, which consists in linking together, in other words, the emotional and cognitive components of attitudes.

The state of cognitive dissonance arises as a result of the individual’s awareness that his actions do not have sufficient grounds, that is, he acts in confrontation with his own attitudes and attitudes, when the personal meaning of behavior is unclear or unacceptable for individuals.

The concept of cognitive dissonance argues that among the plausible methods of interpretation and evaluation similar situation(objects) and his own actions in it, the individual gives preference to those that generate a minimum of anxiety and remorse.

Cognitive dissonance - examples from life were given by A. Leontiev: revolutionary prisoners who were forced to dig holes certainly perceived such actions as meaningless and unpleasant, a decrease in cognitive dissonance occurred after the prisoners reinterpreted their own actions - they began to think that they were digging the grave of tsarism. This idea contributed to the emergence of an acceptable personal meaning for the activity.

Cognitive dissonance can arise as a consequence of past actions. For example, when an individual is specific situation committed an act, which then provokes the appearance of remorse in him, as a result of which amendments can be made to the interpretation of circumstances and their assessment, which eliminate the grounds for experiencing this state. In most cases, this turns out to be simple, since life circumstances are often ambiguous. For example, when a smoker learns about the discovery of a cause-and-effect relationship between the occurrence of cancer and smoking, he has many tools aimed at reducing cognitive dissonance. Thus, in accordance with cognitive theories of motivation, an individual’s behavior depends on his worldview and cognitive assessment of the situation.

How to get rid of cognitive dissonance? Often, external attribution or justification is used to eliminate cognitive dissonance. Responsibility for actions can be removed by recognizing them as forced measures (forced, ordered) or justification can be based on self-interest (they paid well). In cases where there are few reasons for external justification, another method is used - changing attitudes. For example, if an individual was forced to lie, then unconsciously he amends his original judgment about reality, adjusting it to a “false statement”, as a result of which it is subjectively transformed into the “truth”.

According to a number of postulates, this concept converges with the theories of cognitive balance and attribution introduced by the Austrian-American psychologist F. Heider, who based his theories on the principles of Gestalt psychology.

In the variety of situations that arise in everyday life, dissonance can increase or decrease. The degree of its expression depends on the problematic tasks that face the individual.

Dissonance occurs under any conditions if an individual needs to make a choice. At the same time, its level will increase depending on the degree of importance of this choice for a person.

The presence of dissonance, regardless of the level of its intensity, forces the individual to free himself from it one hundred percent or significantly reduce it, if for some reason this is not yet possible.

To reduce dissonance, an individual can use four methods:

- change your own behavior;

- transform one of the cognitions, in other words, reassure yourself of the opposite;

— filter incoming information regarding a specific problem;

- apply the criterion of truth to the information received, admit mistakes and act in accordance with a new, more specific and clear understanding of the problem.

Sometimes an individual can prevent the occurrence of this condition and its consequences of internal discomfort by trying to avoid information about his problem, which comes into confrontation with existing data.

The filtering mechanisms of personally significant information for individuals are well described in the theories of Sigmund and Anna Freud about psychological “defenses.” The contradiction that arises in the minds of subjects regarding significant deep-personal themes is, according to S. Freud, a key mechanism in the formation of neuroses.

If dissonance has already arisen, the subject can prevent its increase by adding one or more elements of cognition to the cognitive scheme to replace the existing negative element that provokes dissonance. Consequently, the subject will be interested in finding information that will approve his choice and weaken or eliminate this condition completely, while it is necessary to avoid sources of information that can provoke its increase. Often, such actions of subjects can lead to negative results - the individual may develop prejudice or fear of dissonance, which represents dangerous factor influencing an individual's views.

There may be contradictory relationships between several cognitive components. When dissonance occurs, individuals strive to reduce its intensity, avoid it, or completely get rid of it. Such aspiration is justified by the fact that the subject sets as his goal the transformation of his own behavior, finding new information that would relate to the situation or phenomenon that gave rise to dissonance.

It is completely understandable that it is easier for an individual to agree with the current state of affairs, adjusting his own internal ideas in accordance with the current situation, instead of lengthy reflection on the problem of the correctness of his actions. Often this negative state appears as a result of accepting serious decisions. Preferring one of the alternatives (equally tempting) is not easy for an individual, but having finally made such a choice, the individual often begins to become aware of “opposing cognitions,” in other words, the positive aspects of the version from which he turned away, and the not entirely positive aspects of the alternative, with which he agreed to.

To weaken or completely suppress dissonance, the individual seeks to exaggerate the importance of the judgment he has accepted, while at the same time, downplaying the significance of the rejected one. As a result of this behavior, the other alternative loses all attractiveness in his eyes.

Cognitive dissonance and complete (a state of oppressive tension, feelings of hopelessness, anxiety) have the same adaptive strategies for getting rid of a problematic situation, since both dissonance and frustration cause in subjects a feeling of disharmony, which they try with all their might to avoid. However, along with this, dissonance and the situation that provoked it can also be frustration.

Festinger's cognitive dissonance

Cognitive motivational theories, which are being intensively developed today, originate from the well-known works of L. Festinger.

The theory of cognitive dissonance in Festinger's work has two fundamental advantages that distinguish a scientific concept from a non-scientific one. The first advantage lies, to use Einstein's formulation, in its reliance on the most general foundations. Of such common grounds Festinger drew conclusions that can be subjected to experimental verification. This is the second advantage of Festinger's teaching.

Leon Festinger's cognitive dissonance involves some kind of confrontation between several cognitions. He interprets cognition quite broadly. In his understanding, cognition is any knowledge, belief, opinion regarding the environment, one’s own behavioral reactions or oneself. A negative state is experienced by the subject as a feeling of discomfort, from which he strives to get rid of and restore internal harmony. It is this desire that is considered the most powerful motivating factor in human behavior and his worldview.

A state of contradiction between cognition X and cognition Y arises if cognition Y does not emerge from cognition X. Consonance between X and Y, in turn, is observed when Y emerges from X. The individual always strives to achieve internal consistency, that is, strives for the state consonance. So, for example, an individual who is inclined to be overweight decided to stick to a diet (X-cognition), but is not able to deny himself a chocolate bar (Y-cognition). An individual who wants to lose weight is not recommended to consume chocolate. This is where the dissonance lies. Its origin motivates the subject to reduce, in other words, to eliminate, reduce dissonance. To solve this problem, an individual has three main ways:

— transform one of the cognitions (in a specific example, stop eating chocolate or end a diet);

- minimize the significance of cognitions included in the confrontation relationship (decide that being overweight is not a big sin or that eating chocolate does not affect a significant increase in body weight);

- add new cognition (a chocolate bar increases weight, but at the same time, it has a beneficial effect on the intellectual sphere).

The last two methods are a kind of adaptive strategy, that is, the individual adapts while maintaining the problem.

Cognitive dissonance requires reduction and motivates it, leading to a modification of relationships, and then behavior.

Below are two of the most famous effects associated with the emergence and elimination of cognitive dissonance.

The first occurs in a situation of behavior that conflicts with the individual’s evaluative attitude towards something. If the subject agrees to do something without coercion that is in any way inconsistent with his attitudes, point of view, and if such behavior does not have a convincing external justification ( monetary reward), then subsequently attitudes and views are transformed in the direction of greater compliance with behavior. In the case when a subject agrees to actions that are slightly contrary to his moral values ​​or moral guidelines, the result will be the appearance of dissonance between moral beliefs and knowledge about behavior, and in the future the beliefs will change in the direction of lowering morality.

The second effect found in research on cognitive dissonance is called dissonance after a difficult decision. A decision is called difficult when the alternative phenomena or objects from which a choice has to be made are equally attractive. In such cases, most often, after making a choice, that is, after making a decision, the individual experiences cognitive dissonance, which is a consequence of the resulting contradictions. Indeed, in the chosen option, on the one hand, there are negative aspects, and in the rejected option, on the other hand, positive features are found. In other words, the accepted alternative is partly bad, but still accepted. The rejected option is partly good, but rejected. During the experimental analysis of the results of a difficult decision, it was revealed that over time after making such a decision, the subjective attractiveness of the chosen alternative increases and the subjective attractiveness of the rejected alternative decreases.

The individual is thus freed from cognitive dissonance. In other words, the person convinces himself about the chosen option that this option is not just slightly better than the rejected one, but significantly better. By such actions the subject seems to expand alternatives. From here, we can conclude that complex solutions increase the likelihood of behavioral responses consistent with the chosen option.

For example, when an individual was tormented for a long time by the choice between cars of brand “A” and “B”, but in the end gives preference to brand “B”, then in the future the chance of choosing cars of brand “B” will be slightly higher than before purchasing it. This is due to the increase in the relative attractiveness of B-brand cars.

Leon Festinger's cognitive dissonance is a specific variation of problem situations. Therefore, it is necessary to determine with the help of which protective mechanisms and non-defensive adaptive tools an adaptive strategy is carried out, if it is used to rid the individual of dissonances. This strategy may be unsuccessful and cause increased dissonance, giving rise to new frustrations.

There are also forces that resist reducing dissonance. For example, changes in behavior and judgments about such behavior often change, but sometimes this is difficult or involves loss. It is difficult, for example, to give up habitual actions, since the individual likes them. New cognitive dissonance and complete frustration may arise as a result of the transformation of other variations of habitual behavior, which entails material and financial losses. There are forms of behavior that generate dissonance that the individual is not able to modify (phobic reactions).

In conclusion, we can say that Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance is quite simple and summary as follows:

— relationships of inconsistency may exist between cognitive elements;

— the emergence of dissonance contributes to the emergence of a desire to reduce its impact and avoid its further growth;

— manifestations of such aspiration consist in the transformation of behavioral response, modification of attitude, or in the conscious search for new opinions and information regarding the judgment or phenomenon that gave rise to dissonance.

Examples of cognitive dissonance

What is cognitive dissonance? The definition of this concept lies in the understanding that every action of an individual that goes against his knowledge or beliefs will provoke the emergence of dissonance. It does not matter whether such actions are forced or not.

How to get rid of cognitive dissonance? In order to understand this, we can consider behavioral strategies using examples. This condition can be caused by the simplest everyday situations. For example, an individual stands at a bus stop and sees two subjects in front of him, one of whom gives the impression of a respectable and successful man, and the second of whom resembles a homeless person. These two people are eating something in a wrapper. According to the knowledge of the individual, the first subject should throw the wrapper into the trash can, which is located at the same stop three steps away from him, and the second subject, in his opinion, will most likely throw the piece of paper in the same place where it is, that is, he will not bother himself with to come up and throw the trash in the trash can. Dissonance occurs when an individual sees the behavior of subjects that runs counter to his ideas. In other words, when a respectable man throws a wrapper at his feet and when a homeless person covers a distance of three steps to throw the piece of paper into the trash bin, a contradiction ensues - opposing ideas collide in the mind of the individual.

Another example. An individual wants to gain an athletic physique. After all, it is beautiful, attracts the gaze of the opposite sex, makes you feel good, and helps improve your health. To achieve the goal, he needs to start exercising regularly. physical exercise, normalize nutrition, try to follow the regime and adhere to a certain daily routine, or find a bunch of justifying factors indicating that he doesn’t really need it (not enough finances or free time, supposedly poor health, body type within normal limits). Any actions of the individual, thus, will be directed towards reducing dissonance - liberation from confrontation within himself.

In this case, it is almost always possible to avoid the appearance of cognitive dissonance. Often this is facilitated by simply ignoring any information regarding problematic issue, which may differ from the existing one. If a state of dissonance has already arisen, it should be neutralized further development and strengthening, by adding new beliefs to the system of one’s own ideas, replacing the old ones with them. An example of this is the behavior of a smoker who understands that smoking is harmful to his health and those around him. The smoker is in a state of dissonance. He can exit it:

- changing behavior - quit smoking;

- changing knowledge (convince yourself of the exaggerated danger of smoking or convince yourself that all information about the dangers of smoking is completely unreliable);

- taking any messages about the dangers of smoking with caution, in other words, simply ignoring them.

However, such a strategy can often lead to fear of dissonance, prejudice, and the emergence of personality disorders, and sometimes to neuroses.

What does cognitive dissonance mean? In simple words its definition is as follows. Dissonance is a certain state in which a person feels discomfort caused by the presence of two or more contradictory knowledge (beliefs, ideas) about one phenomenon. Therefore, in order not to feel cognitive dissonance painfully, you should simply accept as a fact that such a phenomenon simply takes place. It is necessary to understand that contradictions between some elements of a person’s belief system and the real state of affairs will invariably be reflected in existence. And accepting and realizing that absolutely everything can be completely different from your own thoughts, positions, ideas and beliefs allows you to avoid dissonance.

THE COGNITIVE DISSONANCE

(English) cognitive dissonance) - the experience of discomfort arising from actions that go against one’s own beliefs(attitudes). An internal problem, an intrapersonal conflict, can be resolved if you change your beliefs or interpretation of the situation. Cm. , .

Large psychological dictionary. - M.: Prime-EVROZNAK. Ed. B.G. Meshcheryakova, acad. V.P. Zinchenko. 2003 .

The cognitive dissonance

   THE COGNITIVE DISSONANCE (With. 303) - a negative incentive state that arises in a situation where a person has two opposing ideas, judgments, intentions, etc., related to one object; the central concept of social psychological theory developed by American psychologist Leon Festinger.

Festinger in his research relied on the principle of balance, using it in analyzing a person’s perception of the world. He himself begins the presentation of his theory with the following reasoning: it has been noticed that people strive for some consistency as a desired internal state. If there is a contradiction between what a person knows, and the fact that he does, then they try to somehow explain this contradiction and, most likely, present it as consistency in order to regain a state of internal cognitive consistency. Next, Festinger proposes to replace the term “contradiction” with “dissonance” and “coherence” with “consonance”, since this last pair of terms seems to him more neutral, and now formulate the main provisions of the theory. It can be stated in three main points: a) Dissonance may arise between cognitive elements; b) the existence of dissonance causes a desire to reduce it or prevent its growth; c) the manifestation of this desire includes: either, or a change in knowledge, or a cautious, selective attitude to new information. As an illustration, the now familiar example of a smoker is given: a person smokes, but at the same time knows that smoking is harmful; he experiences dissonance, which can be overcome in three ways: a) change behavior, that is, quit smoking; b) change knowledge, in this case - convince yourself that all discussions about the dangers of smoking at least exaggerate the danger, and are even completely unreliable; c) carefully perceive new information about the dangers of smoking, that is, simply ignore it.

The main practical conclusion arising from Festinger's theory is that any psychological element of the subject can be changed: by questioning what a person thinks about himself, one can cause changes in his behavior, and by changing behavior, a person changes his opinion about himself . By subjecting oneself to self-control and self-analysis, working on self-esteem, a person develops and grows personally. Otherwise, he gives his mental work to others, becoming a victim (or an instrument) of someone else's influence. This is exactly what the results of superbly constructed experiments and his colleagues say.

One of the first experiments to test the theory of cognitive dissonance was conducted by J. Brem. He asked subjects to first evaluate several household electrical appliances - a toaster, hair dryer, etc. Brehm then showed the subjects two of the objects that they had carefully examined and said that they were allowed to take any of them to choose from. Later, when subjects were asked to rate the same items again, they were more praising of the item they had chosen and less praising of the item they had rejected. In the light of Festinger's theory, the reason for this behavior is clear. Having accomplished difficult choice, people experience dissonance: knowledge of the negative characteristics of the chosen object is dissonant with the fact of its choice; knowledge of the positive characteristics of the rejected item is dissonant with the fact that the item was not chosen. To reduce dissonance, people emphasize the positive aspects and downplay the negative aspects of selected items and, conversely, emphasize the negative aspects and downplay the positive aspects of an unselected item.

E. Aronson and J. Mills suggested that if people expend a lot of effort, and even more so make some sacrifices in order to gain access to a group that then turns out to be boring and uninteresting, then they will experience dissonance. The knowledge of what they had to endure will be dissonant with the knowledge of negative aspects groups. People don't like wasting effort and making sacrifices that don't pay off. To relieve dissonance, they try to change the group's perception in a positive way. In Aronson and Mills' experiment, female college students were required to pass an entrance test to become members of a discussion club discussing the psychology of sex. For some of the girls, these tests were very unpleasant - they were required to openly demonstrate their sexual liberation in the presence of a male experimenter. Even those who agreed to this (and not everyone agreed) felt embarrassed and, that is, had to overcome themselves. For others, the test was easier - they were allowed, at their discretion, to perform the procedure incompletely and remain within the bounds of traditional decency. Still others were completely spared entrance test. Then all subjects listened to a tape recording of one of the discussions held in the club to which they had been accepted. As expected, the girls who had gone through the most difficult and humiliating test rated the material they listened to as very interesting and meaningful, and this rating was much higher than that given by the other two groups of subjects.

Another experiment, conducted by Aronson and his colleagues a few years later, was based on the assumption that if a threat is used to prevent people from doing something they love, then the smaller the threat, the more these people will tend to disparage it in their eyes. case. If a person abstains from a favorite activity, he experiences dissonance. The knowledge that he loves this activity is dissonant with the knowledge that he is forced not to do it. One way to reduce dissonance is to deemphasize the activity in your own eyes. Thus, there is an excuse for why a person does not do what he loves. Moreover, a weak threat causes less self-justification. This leads to adding your own reasons for self-conviction that a person does not like doing what he loves at all. Aronson's experiment found that children who were given symbolic punishment for using a favorite toy decreased their love for that toy to a much greater extent than those who received actual punishment.

Popular psychological encyclopedia. - M.: Eksmo. S.S. Stepanov. 2005.

The cognitive dissonance

An unpleasant feeling arising from the inconsistency of a number of attitudes or beliefs regarding one object. The following causes of cognitive dissonance are distinguished:

When two attitudes are somehow inconsistent with each other, for example, “I like this person” and “I don’t like Political Views this man".

When people commit actions that they did not intend to do, or behave contrary to the expressed attitudes. For example, a person promotes the benefits of

The fewer reasons a person has for such behavior, the stronger will be the feeling of dissonance and motivation to change the basic attitude in order to restore correspondence between attitude and behavior. Eg. our all-vegetarian could have had a wide choice of foods, but chose steak (weak argument). or was forced to eat a steak at gunpoint (a strong argument). In the first case, the occurrence of cognitive dissonance is much more likely than in the second. The theory of cognitive dissonance implies that behavior that is inconsistent with our attitudes causes us to change them in order to get rid of negative feelings.

Psychology. AND I. Dictionary reference / Transl. from English K. S. Tkachenko. - M.: FAIR PRESS. Mike Cordwell. 2000.

See what “COGNITIVE DISSONANCE” is in other dictionaries:

THE COGNITIVE DISSONANCE- (lat. dissonans discordant sounding, cognitio knowledge, cognition) a concept in social psychology that explains the influence of a system of cognitive elements on human behavior, describing the formation of social motivations under their influence... ... The latest philosophical dictionary

THE COGNITIVE DISSONANCE- (cognitive dissonance) A condition characterized by a collision in the individual’s mind of conflicting knowledge, beliefs, and behavioral attitudes regarding some object or phenomenon. A person seeks to overcome cognitive dissonance by... ... Dictionary of business terms

THE COGNITIVE DISSONANCE- intellectual conflict that arises when existing opinions and ideas are contradicted by new information. Discomfort or tension caused by conflict can be relieved by one of several protective actions: the individual... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia

THE COGNITIVE DISSONANCE- English dissonance, cognitive; German cognitive dissonance. According to L. Festinger, a state characterized by a collision in the individual’s mind of conflicting knowledge, beliefs, and behavioral attitudes regarding k.l. object or phenomenon that causes... Encyclopedia of Sociology

the cognitive dissonance- noun, number of synonyms: 1 inadequate state (1) ASIS Dictionary of Synonyms. V.N. Trishin. 2013… Synonym dictionary

The cognitive dissonance- (from the English words: cognitive “cognitive” and dissonance “lack of harmony”) a state of an individual characterized by a collision in his consciousness of conflicting knowledge, beliefs, behavioral attitudes regarding some ... ... Wikipedia

the cognitive dissonance- pažinimo disonansas statusas T sritis švietimas apibrėžtis Asmenybės būsena, atsirandanti dėl žinojimo, įsitikinimų ir veiklos bei elgesio prieštaravimų. Esant pažinimo disonanso būsenai, išgyvenamas vidinis nepatogumas (diskomfortas) arba… … Enciklopedinis edukologijos žodynas

THE COGNITIVE DISSONANCE- (cognitive dissonance) a case of discrepancy, opposition or contradiction of thoughts, attitudes or actions, leading to a feeling of tension and the need to achieve agreement. The term was coined by Festinger (1957). According to his definition,... ... Large explanatory sociological dictionary

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 Prize “For outstanding contribution into Science”, 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 man, due to some of his internal features 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. Great importance at the same time, it depends on 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 absolutely 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 says to himself that healthy eating 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 use? 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 best products for your loved ones.

Propaganda healthy image life 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.

Probably, each of us in our lives has experienced moments when he feels something in his own way, in disagreement with the established opinions of others or in the context of indisputable facts. After all, if you receive new knowledge or information that begins to conflict with previously existing or studied facts, this is cognitive dissonance

What does cognitive dissonance mean?

The first person to coin the phrase “cognitive dissonance” was Fritz Haider in 1944. But the very development of the theory of cognitive dissonance belongs to Leon Festinger in 1957. Its main principles are that the definition of dissonance is accepted as a discrepancy between knowledge or opinion, or the representation of an individual in a certain area social society. In Russia, this term appeared largely thanks to the writer Viktor Pelevin. Often, conflicts that determine cognitive dissonance within a person occur against the background of religious, moral, value, and emotional inconsistency.

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. TO common reasons conflict are given by the following motives and aspects of discrepancy:

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

Why does it occur

The reasons why individuals often feel internal dissatisfaction may include:

• logical disagreements;
• if the opinion of one person does not agree with the general one;
• if an individual does not want to follow the established culture of a certain country, where customs are sometimes followed more than official law;
• if an already experienced experience comes into conflict with a similar new situation.

The psychological science of our time sees its goal in the study of cognitive dissonance, in the study and explanation of disagreements that can arise both in an individual and in a group of people.

Each person gains some kind of life experience over a certain period of time, but after passing the time limit, he must act in accordance with the conditions in which he lives, contrary to accumulated knowledge. This will be mental discomfort. In order to somehow weaken it, each person will look for a compromise. an example of cognitive dissonance.

An example of situational cognitive dissonance is weather conditions. For example, you are going to spend a weekend outside the city with friends. Friday evening you are pleased with the sunny weather, and in the morning you wake up and see that it is raining outside the window.

Of course, you immediately think that the trip was a failure. After all, nothing predicted that it would rain. And it turns out that rain is the cause of cognitive dissonance. And what does a person do? One will be upset and think that the weekend was a failure. And another will decide that if this is so, then they can still go to their friends’ dacha and there, in the warmth, near the fireplace, have fun with songs with a guitar.

That is, in the second situation a person compromises. After all, this can be explained when you want to reduce dissatisfaction with the situation, and if there is such an opportunity, then completely eliminate it. And this can be achieved in several ways: the individual can change his element of behavior; you can also change external factors cognitive elements; and the most interesting way– is to introduce new cognitive elements into your life.

Classic examples

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.
  

Peculiarities

Sometimes, it is possible to prevent the situation of cognitive dissonance arising in an individual, which can lead to mental discomfort. But, if such dissonance has appeared, then this situation can be changed by adding a cognitive element instead of a negative one, which is the cause of the conflict.

Many people are familiar and explainable with the situation when for a certain person it will be easier to accept and agree with the existing situation and correct their internal disagreement with what has already happened, than to look for another way out, asking the question: “Did I do the right thing and did everything that could in this situation?

Dissonance can also be a consequence after making an important life decision. When there are two options and both are attractive, but only one meaningful alternative needs to be chosen. Such a choice is often very difficult, but having come to a certain decision, a person will definitely feel dissonance.

Simply put, since we are all doubting natures, having chosen, for example, from two proposed jobs (with a good position and salary equally) one, the individual will think about the wrong choice. Immediately, only positive traits will be seen in the job he rejected, and only bad ones in the chosen one.

And therefore, to suppress dissonance, the newly hired employee will tell all his friends and relatives about how good his job is, how understanding his superiors are, and how smart his subordinates are. That is, he will repeatedly exaggerate the positive aspects of the new place of work and find the bad in the rejected place. Thanks to this, the individual loses in his eyes the attractiveness of the job that he himself refused.

How to cope

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