Cognitive dissonance is a warning signal about conflicts in our automatic or willful journey of understanding reality. How we resolve that internal disharmony is another issue.
There was a great post on cognitive dissonance that I recently resteemed but it didn't get resteemed on my blog despite showing up as a green success on the post itself. So check that out. I wanted to do a post on this topic that I have covered more lightly in past posts.
Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive dissonance happens when external information contradicts internal information, or when our own behavior conflicts with how others are behaving. We then feel that conflict, disunity and disharmony. That's the general broad way it works, but this can happen in a few ways:
when our perception of reality (internal subjective) is in disharmony, disunity or disequilibrium with the actual reality (external objective). The map does not reflect the territory accurately.
when we have an accurate perception aligned with objective reality (the map reflects the territory) but the information provided is in contradiction to reality (such as info coming from someone else).
when our behavior is in opposition to that of others (whether morally related or amoral).
Warning Signals that are Telling Us Something is Wrong and to Pay Attention
We will have emotional cues about the conflict, such as anxiety, guilt, shame, anger, embarrassment or stress. Maybe we won't even recognize how there are conflicts, tension, friction or interference between the old and new. This is how cognitive dissonance is related to double-think. Double-think is holding two conflicting or contradictory ideas at the same time, without resolving them. The feelings from cognitive dissonance however, are there to signal an issue that needs to be resolved. Cognitive dissonance is good, not bad. It's how we unconsciously or consciously process the warning about an error that matters.
Social conformity and peer-pressure deal with a contrast of information between one's own behavior and that of others, which will elicit the disharmonious emotional cues telling us something is up. The error is in how we or other people are choosing to behave sub-optimally or possibly bad ways. We then conform to the social behavior demonstrates in order to fit in and not feel like an outcast or reject of the social conventions that surround us. There is a video of people facing the wrong way in an elevator at the end of this post to demonstrate #3.
Self or Other Has False Info that Doesn't Reflect Reality?
Is there a contradiction between the old info and new info?
Is there a conflict between what we desire reality to be and what reality actual is?
Or maybe it's the information that another source is giving us that is false. Receiving false information will conflict with our previously assimilated accurate information, if that is the case. Either way, this conflict needs to be addressed. Cognitive dissonance can be resolved positively, or negatively.
Positive Resolution
A positive resolution is when filtering the information is done to assess how to update our perception or internal map of reality to most accurately reflect the external territory. Critical thinking with logical consistency allows us to weed out the errors and rebuild our understanding of reality more accurately. We need to verify if something is reflected in reality, or if not then whether it has greater logical consistency than another unverifiable claim. This can occur unconsciously/subconsciously, but we can verify the intuitive assessment with conscious effort through critical thinking.
We need to verify that either our previous/current accepted information, or the new information, most accurately reflects reality. We doubt and question with critical thinking to process the information. Discerning, evaluating, assessing, diagnosing, judging and filtering out contradictions to determine which is demonstrably reflected in reality and which is not.
This can also be called conformity to truth/reality/existence.
Negative Resolution
A negative resolution is when an inaccurate or false representation or refection of reality is kept as part of our perception or map of reality. This is when we willfully or unconsciously reject conflicting information because it does not conform to our expectations or what we believe. We can be attached to the old/current information because it is part of how we see the world (worldview) and ourselves (selfview), thus providing a foundational basis for our ego-personality-identity construct.
This can also be called conformity to falsity/unreality/non-existence.
I've also called the negative resolution a "reality negotiation" where we justify our own deception, illusion or delusion. Instead of verifying what is the reality, we opt for the self-deluded belief and create an unreality to live in. Instead of us changing our false perceptions to align with reality, we say "nah", and believe what we want. That is a successful negotiation with reality, where reality does not stand as the master, ruler or measure of what is or isn't real, but we instead have supplanted ourselves to be above reality so that we can decide when reality will be the determinant factor and when our self-deluded egos will be. It's negotiation where we do all the talking and win, to our own detriment.
Rejecting reality that forces us to change ourselves is hard and uncomfortable to do, let alone to accept. It's psychologically painful to face the mirror and see the falsity we live by. So in our quest to "feel-good", we reject the truth in reality in favor of our false perceptions which allow us to maintain our attachment to falsity and live in a unreality because it "feels-good". So we prefer the comforting lies or fanciful beliefs, rather than the hard truth or harsh reality.
We lie to ourselves and create an illusion/delusion or false image of ourselves and reality. For some, being wrong is something they can't face up to. Being wrong doesn't "feel-good", does it? That's something else our pleasure trap attachment has us avoid, truth be damned.
We can change how we think about a bad decision and see it as good, and even justify and convince others of the same. When we act in ways that diverge from how we perceive ourselves to be (self-image) or how we want to believe ourselves to be, then we change our thinking to justify the new behavior, or even change our own identity to conform to the new behavior so that there is no more conflict or dissonance.
When we are deceived by falsity and believe it to be true, we often don't want to let go because of how important that belief has been to our identity, self-view and worldview. So much of what we base ourselves upon comes from our conditioned past where we uncritically accepted the experiences and information from our environment, society, parents, media, etc. This all shaped us into who we are now. Learning that part of who we are now is based on a lie can be hard to accept.
So denial, ignorance, rejection, deflection, projection, and even anger and violent behavior can result when someone gets information that shatters part of how they see the world or who they think they are. The solid ground is broken and we fall into the void, abyss and unknown of being without a foundation to rest upon. But no need to panic. That just means the foundation needs to be rebuilt with verified reality instead unverified beliefs that comes from the past.
Essentially just telling people the truth that they don't want to here will generate cognitive dissonance and likely the negative resolution process. But falsities can be said that people don't want to hear either. Some people will keep saying false things even when reality demonstrates it to be so.
Examples
That is the abstract explanation of how I have explained it. But a few great examples from that post I mentioned above are how people don't want to accept the truth that their girl/boyfriend cheated on them or that there is no Santa Claus.
Cognitive dissonance occurs in group-think, peer pressure or social conformity.
Here are some brief videos on how this plays out, where the contradiction of information with reality results in negative conformity to falsity, or just conformity to the social situation:
Dillbert
I and I do suspect most can relate to the 2nd last pic in the cartoon.
LOL, nice one!
Yeah, 3rd wave neo-feminism is a pretty conflicting mindset to be in.
What if learning how to eliminate cognitive dissonance is the purpose to this life?
It is part of the purpose to aim for that goal indeed. Self-knowledge has many aspects, fallacies and biases affect our thinking. Understanding how cognitive dissonance can have us live falsely is important as well. Thanks for the feedback.
We get an accomplishment for our own good performance, even if the achievements we get are not praised. Maybe that's one of the causes is information that deviates or distorted representation with actual reality. On the other hand there are also other causes that affect it. In the reality of social life it is full of dynamics that we have to attitude wisely. My principles may be different from the principles of others, I always assume all good people. And I do not like to get excessive praise. If we expect praise from others, when we are not praised, then we are disappointed. Then therefore attitude the problem wisely and avoid from prejudice to others. Thank very much.
Yeah, excessive praise and flattery is a sign to me that someone is trying to manipulate me, potentially ;) Thanks for the feedback.
The first pic about the brain being asked what to do with the incoming info that contradicts core beliefs is just genius! It shows such blatant ignorance, an abrasive "don't care attitude" and just downright idiocy. Pardon the bluntness. Awesome choice!!
*Your article as a whole has given me lots to think about and it has taught me about processes I knew existed in my mind but could not properly define. Thanks!!
Awesome! Glad to have helped out in your own personal understanding of consciousness/self and how we operate as humans in psyche. It's great to learn how we can be fooled or how we fool ourselves. Thanks for the feedback.
That picture is funny indeed :P
You're welcome :)
Negative resolution of cognitive dissonance is so prevalent and so dangerous it's scary. It makes you incapable of learning and putting yourself into question, living in your own fabricated "truth".And yet we are all prone to such a bias. Worse, knowing that it exists only helps little, it doesn't make you immune at all.
Indeed. That's why it's good to reflect on the evidence reality can present so that we can distinguish possible, probable and actual conclusions, which is something I omitted as part of the process but have in previous infographics. Thanks for the feedback, it's tough to deal with biases indeed, reality is our friend to keep us in line hehe.
Well I'll definitely will check your previous posts then :)
Incredible indepth post on cognitive dissonance :)! Never saw the videos before. Had a good one watching the last :D :D. Thanks for including my post in this.
Resteemed and upvoted!
Thank you and you're welcome ;) The elevator shows even with benign behavior, there is a tendency to conform even if it's sub-optimal or awkward.
Ive probably told you this before, but @krnel i love your page, always such intelligent philosophy
cheers
Thank you very much, I appreciate it.
Well i had to go read the initial posts on the link at the head of your blog, they are excellent!
A very interesting subject, regarding the 'Satan Claus' (not sure if you chose to spell it this way!) story, i was wondering if it would be best to remove it from a child's life, or if in fact it acts as an early lesson or test on handling future cognitive dissonance tests? A bit of mental training, so that when your girlfriend does cheat on you and your mate tells you so, you don't collapse into a hole you can never get out of?
LOL, woops Satan, yeah I get typos when I write Santa sometimes. I fixed it thanks.
I don't think it's good to lie to children just to generate emotions based on a fantasy story. There are plenty of times in life when a child is wrong and feels it lol. Thanks for the feedback.
:D i loved that typo.
Yes, no lies if possible, not even the fairy tale ones. I was speaking with my girlfriend, who is a Montessori teacher, last night about this subject and she tells me that it's key not to promote these kind of stories in the classroom. I do feel its promoted in other school systems, but mainly its the parents (me included) that are guilty for this!
Yeah the parents and society that reinforces it in culture and tradition.
I suffer from this being American and living in China. Western and Eastern thinking are conflicting each other, especially when it comes to morals, values, and business practices.
Dang, at least you know it's going on ;) But it does tear at us inside. Thanks for the feedback.
I saw the video about about the experiments a few weeks ago. There was a book written called The Crowd that "leaders" use to control the masses and other people based on social experiments.
Very interesting read! Thanks for sharing @krnel.
This has been the best thing i have read so far on steemit. @krnel please follow me I think we have some similar interests. I would love to share my blog with you. Thanks again!
Is it this book? https://www.amazon.ca/Crowd-Study-Popular-Mind/dp/0486419568
Yes i think so.
Nowadays this happens a lot. Example: When our reality is different from that reported by the media, it is partial and wants to put an idea in our minds.
Thanks for excellent article :)
Yeah, conform to what the media says is "Reality". Good one ;) You're welcome.
Thank you for this detailed and expert treatise on cognitive dissonance. I have often seen people (including myself) in denial mode - your post explained why this happenes. I often wonder about the way our neural networks in the brain are designed - 'comfort level' of the brain is higher when processing information that is similar to something already stored, I am told. Perhaps that is why, something new and especially conflicting is presented, the brain tends to get stressed and tries to reject. Anyway- thanks for your great blog. Upvoted.
Since you have already seen my blogs, perhaps you may like to check my latest blogs when you have time. Your comments will be very valuable to enrich my experience. Thanks.
Indeed, good point on the neuroplasticity. We have ingrained habits that are hard to break but can be as we reform the pathways to automate our selection for certain behaviors. Changes that neuroplasticity is resisted at first since it's already established as a road to take. Making a new road takes more work. Thanks for the feedback.
Such a documented article, as usual from your side. The greatest book I've read on this subject even if is not the main one was Mistakes were made (but not by me). It is fascinating (and not in a good way) to see what cognitive disonance can do for example in politics, justice or even psychotherapy where the therapist not being able to assume a mistake can harm his patients. What is the 'real' reality is also a question not easy to answer where the truth differs when you change the perspective.
The truth doesn't change when you change perspective, you just get more of it. You see more, which shows you how the previous illusion fooled you. Verifying things isn't about staying in one position, but to examine something by revolving around it to understanding all the facets.
We have to face ourselves honestly if we are to stop doing wrongs to others. People don;t know psychology or how they deceive themselves, and then justify anything they do because they don't have foundational principles of understanding behavior, harm, right vs. wrong, etc. They don't know how to think very well. Hardly any honest self-reflection.
Thanks for the feedback ;)
Agree, I was referring to different perspective held by different people when all are right but there is more than what they see and there is truth in the other perspective also. I see this a lot, especially in politics and religion.
I did not knew the schema, thanks, it's a new perspective for me.
I'm glad to see this got some love, awesome content here. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for reading and appreciating it :)
My Dad taught me this term 8 or so years ago. Another way to say it is 'normalcy bias,' yes?
Also, I always enjoy your post and am just so swamped that I cannot comment enough. I am very glad to be on this ride with you!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalcy_bias
Yes it's related I can see after reading, but that bias is about the current condition persisting and being certain it will persist with no dangers presenting themselves like disasters. So yeah the old/current contrasted with the abrupt new reality/info that they don't want to face. Good catch on the similarities. Thanks for the feedback :)
Brilliant. The most obvious example I can think of is people saying they love animals but then eating meat.
Or saying they want to help the poor and then voting Tory.
Zing. You got the hardest hard truth for people to accept. They exploitation, enslavement, harm, violence and murder of other innocent beings. They don't want to accept the reality of what they do, hiding from truth and from themselves. Most of my work on consciousness an morality is to get ppl to learn how to face themselves and change for the better. Thanks for the feedback, appreciated.
That is called life,
Humans are different thinkers.
So everyone feels.
But how to solve such problems is difficult.
True indeed. There is a process to understand how it happens, and how to resolve it. Knowledge of self empowers self.
But I like BLUE!!!!!!!!!
:P
Ah well, read pill it is, the red harder to swallow info, instead of the peaceful blue easy info... hehe.
Sad but true it would appear for many :)
Keep up the great posts @krnel big Cheers
Your ego will always try to bring you back to match your current beliefs. Growth and change require for you to become uncomfortable enough with what you currently are living in order to transcend those limiting beliefs. Do not be overly concerned if you feel uncomfortable. Challenge the limiting beliefs with thoughts that explore universal possibilities and see if you can push through the discomfort and become a your best self.
Interesante información la que compartes @krnel
soy psicólogo, te saludo desde Venezuela
Thanks for the psychological education, mr. Kernel
You're welcome.
Followed you hop u follow back and visit my blog @kishan
Absolutely fascinating read, thank you!
Thanks
Niac ..An interesting topic that was well done is supported by a vote
You definitely set the bar on Steemit for thought provoking posts Krnel.
:o)
Michael
With so much lies and crap in the world one should avoid positive resolution as much as possible and stick with negative resolution after being like adult and building his or her thought framework.
Cognitive Dissonance example:
Complaining about how whales abuse their power and complain only when it is not in your best interest
Good post! I read about that on a book and I'm glade that people is starting to share good content on steemit. keep like that ;)
Congratulations @krnel
You took 70 place in my Top 100 of posts
Great post.
Cognitive Dissonance is more real in our world than people think it is.
Hi @krnel, Thanks for this very detailed and interesting post. I will be linking to it for an upcoming piece I am doing.