Do you know cognitive dissonance?

Do you know cognitive dissonance?

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

In psychology, cognitive dissonance is known as the tension or discomfort we perceive when we maintain 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 occurs when we see for example a bright and intelligent person committing an irrational and inappropriate action at any given time.

Now, beyond the striking that these situations may seem to us, there is one aspect that we must understand. Cognitive dissonance can be an opportunity for personal growth. Resolve that discomfort, these contradictions are a means to invest in mental health.

"The primary cause of the disorder in ourselves is the search for the reality promised by others."

-Krishnamurti-

Cognitive dissonance and social psychology

In 1957 a key work for social psychology was published. It was "Theory of Cognitive Dissonance", an exceptional work done by psychologist Leo Festinger. In this work, the term cognitive dissonance first appeared, which came to explain to us how people try to maintain our internal consistency despite the contradictions between acts and values.

Often, as we have already stated before, we end up carrying out actions or behaviors that do not harmonize with our feelings or attitudes. That internal tension, that dissonance makes us aware of the need to resolve this conflict in order to live with greater integrity. There where desires and acts, values ​​and behaviors are in balance.

Now, Festinger himself conducted an interesting study with his colleague or Merrill Carlsmith, where they demonstrated something no less interesting: there are people who come to accept cognitive dissonance. They do it assuming their own lie or contradiction, assuming that what they say or do in order to placate that internal tension.

What do we do in the face of cognitive dissonance?

When we experience tension or discomfort from the existence of two incompatible ideas, we will try to eliminate it or avoid the situation and information that may 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 adding new information and knowledge. Thus, we can find that almost all of us have fallen into cognitive dissonances.

For example, when we do not go to the gym even if it is our goal for the week, we eat chocolate when we are on a diet, we want something and we cannot obtain it, criticizing it and taking it away, we smoke a cigarette when the doctor has forbidden it or when What we just bought does not meet our expectations.

In the case of not going to the gym, it goes against our beliefs of "wanting to lose a few kilos" or "leading a healthy life." We no longer went to the gym, so what is easier, changing something we did in the past, a habit of changing our beliefs?

The easiest option is usually the last one. So we have to add new beliefs, change the ones we have or downplay incompatible beliefs to eliminate inconsistency. "Going to the gym is something that shows in the long term, nothing happens because I have not gone," "for a day it will not be noticed much," "I will go next week."

We can change beliefs in many ways but maintaining our ultimate goal that would be to give more value to the option chosen and subtract it from the unselected alternative. And so it is with the rest of the examples.

First I act, then I justify my performance

As we see, cognitive dissonance explains our tendency to self-righteousness. The anxiety or tension that comes with the possibility that we have made a wrong decision or that we have done something wrong may lead us to invent new reasons or justifications to support our decision or act. We do not bear at the same time two contradictory or incompatible thoughts, and we justify this contradiction, even with new absurd ideas.

It is important to note that cognitive dissonance only occurs when subjects have freedom of choice when performing the behavior. If they force us to do something against our will, this tension does not occur. Although convincing us that they forced us, it can also serve as self-righteousness to reduce discomfort.

But is it bad that we reduce cognitive dissonance?

In principle no, since it is a mechanism that we use for our well-being. The important thing is to be aware of when we use it so as not to fall into self-deception. For example, in couple breakups, or in unrequited love affairs, we usually justify ourselves with phrases such as “I already knew it would not work,” “it was not worth it,” “it was not what I expected,” when inside we feel pain. and we have trouble admitting it

Even in people who have low self-esteem, we can also observe it, since they are people who love themselves little and try to lie to hide what they consider weaknesses, creating hearts and masks that hide what they really feel. And what happens? Well, people are treated as they think they are, that is, according to the face they are shown, instead they feel misunderstood. That is why it is very important to know that we are using the mechanism of cognitive dissonance, so as not to reach self-deception, criticism, and lies.