Cognitive dissonance

Let’s start by exploring what cognitive dissonance is.

Cognitive dissonance is the unpleasant tension that you can experience with conflicting beliefs or when you are acting contrary to your own beliefs.

Leon Festinger came up with this theory in 1957. He stated that people strive to reduce the dissonance by adapting their views and/or behavior. This dissonance leads to one or more opinions or behavior being subconsciously modified to get rid of the unpleasant tension. Keyword is subconsciously.

Aronson stated in 1969 that cognitive dissonance also occurs when people become aware that their current behavior conflicts with the image they had of themselves. This is a conscious occurence.

Cognitive dissonance plays out in the individual, in relationships but also on a global scale. It is a way of self-justification, it is self-deception and it leads to unethical behavior. This is no judgement by any means, because everybody does it. It’s one of our psychological possibilities.

An example of cognitive dissonance:

Let’s say you are into the environment, but you also like long, hot showers. As you can imagine, those two are at odds with each other.

You could use different strategies to get rid of this uneasy feeling, f.ex:

• Adjust your attitude (environment not so important after all).
• You can say/think: I am allowed to take long showers, because I am very aware of my plastic use.
• You can say/think: If I don’t take a long shower, I get stressed which is also not good for the world.
• I cannot change the world on my own anyway, so…
• You could adjust your attitude: I will take 10 minute showers.

Do you recognize your own cognitive resonance?

Cognitive dissonance on a large/global scale: ‘If all those people believe this, it must be true.’

Cognitive dissonance in corona times

I read somewhere and I can’t remember where (that comes with getting older I suppose): ‘The biggest weapen is not a gun or a bomb. It is the control of information. Controlling the information in the world, is manipulating all the minds that consume it.’  

I don’t know about you and I don’t know the situation in your country, but when I read this a lot of questions came up, especially in relation to our current corona crisis. Questions like:

• What kind of information am I getting?
• Am I getting all the information I need to make healthy choices, for me, for my loved ones?
• What is the role of the mainstream media? Is this media still fact checking and hearing both sides or are they just following instructions?
• Do I still have access to different sounds, to critical media?
• Is this truly a pandemic or is it more of an infodemic? Who is trying to manipulate, fuck with my mind so to say?
• Who is benefiting from this situation?
• Can I track the money trail, (which is usually a good indicator. Who are the beneficiaries)?

I would like to call for a critical attitude towards the control of information and be very aware of the words used. In my little country, we got a whole new dictionary within just a few months. Emotions were and are played upon and I felt the enormous  power in the repetition of words.

In these times where, in my opinion, authority, truth and the public and democratic debate are under pressure, it seems important to me to make you realize that words can unite or divide and words can form and frame…As much the words of others as the narrative you tell yourself. Both will influence your health and well being.

Go explore and be curious.

Feel free to voice your opinion on this blog.

I absolutely love freedom of speech!