What Is Cognitive Dissonance? Psychology Treatments That Help
Have you ever felt a sense of mental tension, but you weren't sure where it was coming from? This could be cognitive dissonance, a psychological phenomenon that may be hard to recognize when you experience it. Fortunately, the field of psychology can shed some light on this uncomfortable cognitive state. This article will present an overview of cognitive dissonance and some online therapy treatments that help relieve its psychological stress.
What Is Cognitive Dissonance?
So how does psychology define cognitive dissonance? It helps to look at the meanings of each word in the term. "Cognitive" refers to mental activity. It can mean thinking, learning, perceiving, believing, or intuiting. You may recognize "dissonance" as a word that is sometimes used in music to mean two or more musical notes which lack harmony and create a sense of tension when played together.
Therefore, cognitive dissonance is when two cognitions, attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors are so out of harmony that they make you feel psychologically uncomfortable.
Who Identified Cognitive Dissonance?
Let's look at the original social psychology theory of cognitive dissonance, created in 1957 by social psychologist Leon Festinger. Festinger read about a religious cult that believed the world would soon end in a cataclysmic flood. As an expert in social psychology, he wondered what the cult would think when the world didn't end, So, he and some social psychology colleagues went undercover and managed to gain acceptance into the group. Their goal was to observe what would happen next.
What Festinger and his colleagues discovered was psychologically groundbreaking. The people who were less committed to the beliefs of the group simply accepted that they had made a mistake and learned a lesson. However, the staunchest believers had a different response. They didn't accept that their beliefs had been proven false. In fact, they began to work harder to gain new recruits for their cult.
Later, Festinger conducted social psychology laboratory experiments to find out more about this type of phenomenon. These were peer-reviewed studies that have been revisited many times since in other research projects. In one scenario, people were asked to lie and tell others that a boring job was interesting. Those who were paid $20 for this lie still believed that the task was boring after they lied about it. But the people who only received $1 for the lie changed their thoughts and became convinced the task was actually interesting. Not only did they lie about it, but they began to believe the lie.
This result clearly illustrates what came to be known as Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory in the field of social psychology. In these peer-reviewed studies, the $20 liars had no reason to change their thinking, as the amount they were paid rewarded them amply enough for acting in a way that contradicted their beliefs, resolving any mental tension. However, the $1 liars had to change their thinking to relieve the mental tension created when their actions didn't sync with their thoughts, because there was no real reward for doing so.
Festinger proposed that people have a drive for their attitudes and behaviors to be consistent. When their attitudes, thoughts, and behaviors are inconsistent, they change something so they can get back into mental harmony. Festinger's peer-reviewed studies, published by the Stanford University Press, laid the groundwork for extensive research into cognitive dissonance. In fact, the studies were so important that the Stanford University Press still offers this volume.
What Are Examples Of Cognitive Dissonance?
Once you understand what cognitive dissonance is, you will be able to find examples all around you, including things you may have thought about and done. Engaging in unhealthy habits generally causes cognitive dissonance. Smoking tobacco a prime example. If you know smoking causes cancer but you choose to smoke, your behavior is inconsistent with your knowledge. To resolve this mental conflict, you will likely tell yourself a story. You might focus, for example, on someone you know who smoked for decades and never got sick rather than let yourself think about how many people have died from lung cancer.
Or you might say to yourself that everyone dies eventually, even if they only do things that are healthy. That may sound reasonable enough that you accept it and keep smoking. Yet, you might avoid tempting fate in other ways. So, when an informed person smokes, cognitive dissonance is usually present.
Cognitive dissonance isn't always harmful. It can also occur when you're making positive changes. Consider what happens when you decide to start exercising. Beginning a fitness routine can be grueling, especially if you've been sedentary for years. It may be unfamiliar, uncomfortable, tiring, time consuming, and even painful.
One voice in your head might say that you don't want to feel the pain and inconvenience of exercise, and another one may insist that it's good for you. To reduce your mental conflict, you may convince yourself that you like exercising even though it's physically uncomfortable. If you're successful in changing your fitness habits, this inner conflict is only temporary. The more you stick with the plan, the fitter you may become. The exercise can become more familiar and less physically uncomfortable. You might experience the rewards of good health. These new attitudes and thoughts align well with the fitness behaviors you've now adopted. Your health conditions improve along with your mental comfort.
Are There Treatments For Cognitive Dissonance?
When your attitudes, thoughts, and behaviors don't align, you can take several approaches to reduce or eliminate the cognitive dissonance. You can change either your beliefs or your behavior. To alter either requires choosing different thoughts. Thus, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is especially useful for resolving cognitive dissonance.
CBT relies on the assumption that thoughts create feelings, and feelings influence behavior. So, during CBT, a therapist may help you examine your thoughts in the interest of making healthy behavioral changes. You can talk about what is distressing to you; then, with the help of your counselor, you can examine your thoughts about the situation in question. Finally, you take a closer look at those thoughts and determine whether they're accurate and rational. If not, you may decide to change them.
When your thoughts and behaviors conflict, you can examine that disparity and decide what to do about it. You might not have to do anything except recognize it. Just understanding what's happening may make you feel better. So, in the exercise example above, you might decide that "Yes, I'm feeling cognitive dissonance, but I still want to stay on my fitness plan. These feelings are temporary anyway, and the benefits far outweigh the psychological discomfort." That recognition is important. Without it, you might try to resolve the disharmony by quitting your program or self-sabotaging in some other way.
Standard CBT can also encourage you to find new information that bridges two incompatible elements. Your therapist can help you examine which of the behaviors and thoughts are most important to you. When you focus on what's important, the dissonance may diminish.
Rational Living Therapy (RLT) is a specific type of CBT based on the idea that it's your thoughts about people and things that influence your feelings, not the people and things themselves. Like standard CBT, RLT focuses on changing unhelpful thoughts.
An RLT counselor can help you understand that feelings don't always reflect the truth. They use the Socratic method (based on open-ended questioning) and may even accelerate the process through hypnotherapy. The therapist asks you questions designed to help you understand important aspects of situations, feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. Ultimately, they aim to guide you to discover for yourself that you can control your feelings by changing your thoughts. With this newfound knowledge, you're hopefully ready to start making the necessary changes to improve your mental harmony.
Online Therapy Provides A Space To Reconcile Conflicting Associations
A defining characteristic of cognitive dissonance is that it's psychologically distressing and can feel uncomfortable. Yet, its damage can go beyond feelings. When cognitive dissonance drives your behavior, it can alter the course of your life. If you notice that you're feeling mental tension or doing things you don't understand, you may find help by talking to a therapist. Or you may already know where the dissonance lies but not how to resolve it. In that case, a counselor can help you resolve the tension and teach you how to do it better on your own in the future.
Research shows online counseling is an effective method of treatment for those seeking to address issues with cognitive dissonance. In one study, for example, researchers examined the effects of online dissonance-based therapy when helping to treat individuals living with eating disorders. Some of the study participants were urged to form a more negative association with the notion that an ideal body is a thin body. The control group got no intervention, and a third group got cognitive behavioral therapy. Researchers found that this type of therapy, informed by cognitive dissonance theory from social psychology, helped lead to less body dissatisfaction, reduced depression, and a decrease in internalization of the thin-body ideal. They concluded that online dissonance-based therapy can be a useful means of helping individuals overcome eating disorders.
As discussed above, if you're experiencing difficult-to-process feelings that may be arising out of cognitive dissonance, online therapy can help. And because online therapists don't work out of offices, it's often a more affordable option. A qualified mental health professional can help you better understand your mind and how it operates. Read the reviews in the next section to see how BetterHelp has helped others work with their thoughts and feel better.
Counselor Reviews
"I enjoy the email exchange I have with Dr. Mayfield. Her questions are helping me learn to understand why I do what I do. Now we are working on ways to change behaviors, by changing my thoughts. This is meaningful work."
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Takeaway
Cognitive dissonance can be burdensome, but therapy can help. Through the therapeutic process, you can take control of your thoughts and attitudes and change behaviors that are causing mental discomfort. Then you can live a life that is aligned with your values and helpful in sustaining your psychological and physical health.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Are The Three Causes Of Cognitive Dissonance?
Here are the three reasons why someone experiences cognitive dissonance because of opposing beliefs:
When you are forced to comply by behaving a certain way.
If an authority or someone else who has power over you directs you to act in a way that is contrary to your beliefs, you may experience cognitive dissonance. You may believe wholeheartedly that what you are doing is wrong or detrimental to yourself or others, but despite your beliefs, you feel compelled to do it anyway. You may experience cognitive dissonance between these two conflicting beliefs: "I must not do it" and "I must do it."
No matter what your chosen alternative, your behavior contradicts one of these existing beliefs. In the case of forced compliance, resolving cognitive dissonance is so critical that you may experience cognitive dissonance and its extreme mental discomfort until you change one of these existing beliefs.
As an example of cognitive dissonance, imagine you decide that forced compliance isn't really forced. In other words, you may tell yourself that you want to obey authority or that this is something you would do even if you weren't forced to do it. This is cognitive dissonance if it conflicts with another deeply held belief that they are indeed forcing you to do it.
When you are making a decision.
Decision-making can be tough. In some cases, it can cause a lot of discomfort. As you consider the alternatives, you may be drawn to more than one option. Even though, according to your beliefs, both choices are excellent, you know you have to choose only one. That means you must find something worse or better about one of them even if you don't see it already. This creates cognitive dissonance because of your contradictory ideas: "This one is the best" and "That one is the best." The cognitive dissonance can interfere with your decision-making process and increases your discomfort.
When you have a goal that requires great effort.
Imagine that you have a lofty goal, but the effort required to reach it is more than you really want to expend. In this case, you may experience cognitive dissonance because of the conflicting beliefs: "I want to reach the goal" and "I don't want to do what it takes to reach the goal."
Before you can put in the effort, justification becomes necessary. That is, you have to find a reason for the effort that you can accept more comfortably than cognitive dissonance. For instance, if your goal is to save money, you might justify the effort of denying yourself the things you want to buy. How could you do that? Sometimes in this situation, people attempt to resolve dissonance here by convincing themselves that they don't really want to have those costly things anyway. Reducing dissonance in this way could allow you to save up for a rainy day or to buy something significant like a home.
One example of how justification can work to diminish cognitive dissonance comes from a study done in 1956. One group of students was asked to read obscene words. The other group was asked to read words that were not considered obscene. Afterward, both groups listened to recordings of an uninteresting talk about animal sexuality. The group that read the obscenities found the discussion interesting. After all, they had made a big investment by saying embarrassing words. They didn't want to believe that the talk was boring. This caused them cognitive dissonance, so they convinced themselves it was interesting to justify their behavior in reading those words. But for the other group, the discussion was boring because they had little invested in it and thus no cognitive dissonance to overcome.
Is Cognitive Dissonance A Good Thing?
Yes, sometimes, when someone experiences cognitive dissonance, it can be a good thing.
Suppose a person holds beliefs about how good it is to help the poor. Now, imagine that person with those beliefs is you. Next, assume that any time you are given a chance to do so, you don't help anyone who you see is in need. This hypocrisy bothers you. You feel discomfort, just as in the theory of cognitive dissonance. The cognitive dissonance produces tension between the belief of "I am a helper" and the behavior of turning down all opportunities to help.
The reason this instance of cognitive dissonance might bring positive changes is it might prompt you to change your behavior and begin helping people who need help. How do you go about resolving dissonance here? You change your behavior so that it matches your existing beliefs. Therefore, when people resolve cognitive dissonance in this way, it has a positive effect in that it prompts them to do something beneficial to others in their community. Even though there is discomfort involved, you resolve it to make positive changes.
What Are The Signs Of Cognitive Dissonance?
If you think you might be experiencing cognitive dissonance, think about your feelings, beliefs, and behaviors. Look for the following signs.
You have a bad feeling about a decision.
You may not realize what is causing those butterflies in your stomach, but it may be that you are reacting to the internal conflict between two beliefs. When a person holds two different beliefs that don't align, they may feel discomfort, like something is very wrong.
You ignore any facts that don't confirm your existing beliefs.
This psychological phenomenon is called confirmation bias. When you have confirmation bias, you only agree with and focus on the information that confirms your existing beliefs. That is, your beliefs are like a filter that only catches what agrees with you.
For example, you might believe that one brand of toothpaste is the best based on a flashy media content ad you saw. Maybe you were completely convinced. Then, you read some facts that show that your brand of toothpaste is missing an important element. If the mental anguish between the thoughts of "my toothpaste is best" and "this paper says my toothpaste doesn't have what I need," then you might ignore the paper. Why not ignore the media content ad? It's because you want to believe your brand is the best.
You avoid the conflict between opposing beliefs altogether.
Rather than deciding or taking action, you simply ignore the problem. However, the cognitive dissonance may still be there, making you feel upset or confused.
An example of this is the meat paradox. Suppose you consider yourself an animal lover. You see yourself as someone who loves, and cares for all animals. This is one of your most firmly held beliefs. However, you keep eating meat, which harms the animals that are slaughtered for their meat. That doesn't sound like you are an animal lover when you think about the fact that you are still eating meat, so you just don't think about eating meat. In fact, researchers have found that cognitive dissonance is one of the factors that cause the meat paradox when you continue eating meat.
Spending a lot of time rationalizing one's behavior.
When you do something contrary to your beliefs, the theory of cognitive dissonance says the discomfort caused by it may make you focus your conflicting cognition on rationalization. That is, often, people attempt to convince themselves that their actions are rational. You tell yourself you did what you did for a reason. Then, your mind starts working on finding a reason that sounds good to you and that you can accept because it aligns with your other beliefs.
Fraudsters often use rationalization to reassure themselves that what they are doing in cheating people is fine, at least under their “special” circumstances. Preventing fraud is difficult when these characters believe their scam because they have rationalized it.
You feel ashamed of what you did or said.
Suppose you said or did something that conflicted with your beliefs. Although you believe what you did was wrong, you did it anyway. So, now, you feel bad that you did it, and you might hide it or deny it in front of others. The feelings may feel overwhelming. In some cases, you might choose the next time differently to avoid this feeling, but in others, you might do the same thing and still feel shame.
Your self-doubt paralyzes you.
When the cognitive dissonance is so uncomfortable that you can't get past your doubts, you may find that you can't move forward at all. You may feel stuck with no way out of your dilemma. Your opposing beliefs are too strong to choose between, so you do nothing. In this case, it may be hard for you to manage settings where people are pushing you to act often.
You second-guess yourself.
You may make a decision, but because you haven't truly succeeded in resolving dissonance, you might second-guess that choice. This can bring feelings of uncertainty and confusion, and it may lead you to back out on your plans. When people resolve cognitive dissonance in this way, they may appear flighty, indecisive, or unreliable. In this case, they can't completely convince themself either way about these beliefs.
You keep apologizing over and over.
When you haven't yet overcome the discomfort caused by the two conflicting beliefs, the experience may influence you to apologize constantly. If both options feel wrong to you in one way or another, you may not be able to feel good enough about the results, no matter which one you choose. Even if you see both options as positive, you might still apologize for not choosing whichever you decided not to choose.
How Do You Help Someone Experiencing Cognitive Dissonance?
There are several ways to assist someone who is experiencing cognitive dissonance: learning, encouraging, and being supportive.
First, it helps if you know about cognitive dissonance theory in social psychology. Cognitive dissonance theory is a wide field, but basically, it covers situations where you feel psychological tension because your behavior contradicts your beliefs or you have two conflicting beliefs. To learn more, you can read popular articles, take a class, or join a discussion group on cognitive dissonance. Talk with others about relevant experiences.
Another way is to encourage them to identify and address their own cognitive dissonance. That emotional tension that arises when you have cognitive dissonance may be upsetting this person very much. If you want to help them, you can encourage them to process their conflicting cognition and feelings and make choices based on what they truly believe. Or they may need encouragement to explore other beliefs and choose similar beliefs that more closely match their goals.
Consider talking a relevant experience that shows it's possible to overcome this challenge. Authoritative experiences can boost their belief in themselves, such as when it comes to parenting. One study recently revealed how authoritarian approaches in parenting are linked to childhood aggression and hostility, while authoritative experiences correlate with lower levels of child anger and higher levels of parental self-esteem in their parenting skills. Regardless of the specifics contributing to someone’s cognitive dissonance, your encouragement could be an invaluable service to them that prompts them to find their own answers and choose behaviors that please them.
Also, you can be supportive in various ways. Just being there, acknowledging their struggle, and offering your emotional support can help them get past the conflict. Then, you can get back to the relationship, although their new beliefs or behaviors - even if they are similar beliefs – may change the way you interact. You both may have an attitude change, but if they are mentally healthier because they worked out their conflicting thoughts, their attitudes may change, and the attitude change may be a positive one.
Importantly, if the cognitive dissonance is more than discomfort and is becoming a mental health issue for them, you can help them by recommending they talk to wellness professionals or get professional medical advice about their beliefs and the discomfort surrounding their beliefs.
A therapist can tell more authoritative experiences and guide people as they resolve cognitive dissonance so that they come to a solution that satisfies their need for cognitive consistency between their attitudes, thoughts, and behaviors. If they are hesitant but can't manage the task of reducing dissonance, then your encouragement may be an invaluable service to them, allowing them to process their beliefs and behaviors. After all, it's just human nature to need encouragement and relief from discomfort sometimes.
What Is Cognitive Dissonance Narcissism?
Cognitive dissonance narcissism refers to a situation that often comes up in relationships with people who have narcissistic tendencies or a diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder. Their behaviors may cause their partner to feel psychological tension between what they and do and their partner's own internal beliefs. This behavior can increase the partner’s power in the relationship as you trust them while trusting your own mind less and less.
Here are a few narcissistic behaviors and how they can cause cognitive dissonance.
An inflated sense of importance: If you are their partner, you may believe that they are truly a star, a genius, or an authority. At the same time, you might see that they fail or aren't recognized as a celebrity by anyone. This causes dissonance for you as you grapple with the two conflicting beliefs.
A craving for admiration: Because you are in a relationship with them, you may want to give them what they feel they need. So, you build up their ego. At the same time, your partner puts you down so that they can see themselves as being better than you. Eventually, you may realize that their putdowns are a form of abuse. However, until you get to that point, you may feel greater dissonance about building them up while they put you down. You may think, "I must be wrong. Surely, they wouldn't do that to me."
Use of gaslighting to gain power: Their behaviors and words convince you that you can't believe your senses or your memories. Yet, deep within yourself, you know what you know, even though your partner has taught you to doubt yourself. This creates cognitive dissonance for you, which is painful because human beings usually need cognitive consistency.
The cognitive consequences of staying in a relationship with a narcissistic person who uses the theory of cognitive dissonance to control you may be dire. It could affect both their behavior and your behavior. Besides that, you could be mentally confused and have extremely low self-esteem before you decide to leave them. What's more, if you stay, you may have greater dissonance, and the cognitive dissonance may continue until it damages your mental health.
Is Cognitive Dissonance Lying?
No, cognitive dissonance does not mean the same thing as lying. Instead, cognitive dissonance is a conflict between two dissonant beliefs, both of which you hold strongly. It's not that you are intentionally telling yourself falsehoods. Instead, you are casting around to try to find a solution to your uncomfortable psychological tension. Furthermore, the more strongly you hold the two beliefs, the greater dissonance you will experience. After all, people strive to hold onto strongly held beliefs, even with the discomfort caused by cognitive dissonance.
On the other hand, when you lie, you may feel cognitive dissonance. In other words, cognitive dissonance may be the result of a lie and not the lie itself. Here's an example. Suppose you lie to your friend about not being able to help them move to a new apartment. However, you think of yourself as an honest person, so you feel an inner clash. In this case, you feel cognitive dissonance because of the lie you told and your belief that you would never lie to a friend. If you don't like the feeling and want to experience cognitive consistency, you may call up your friend and say, "Hey, I can help you after all."
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