Health and Well-Being: Cognitive Dissonance and our Mental Life

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you told a small WHITE LIE, but immediately felt uncomfortable for having done so?  Of course, this is because you see yourself as a scrupulously honest person who is not even capable of such behaviour.

This is a typical example of cognitive dissonance and it can occur whenever our beliefs, ideas or even behaviours contradict one another. It is important to choose wisely the manner to resolve this dissonance and all the accompanying discomfort with utmost care. It is in fact a reflection of having good and stable mental health.  So, in short we could say that cognitive dissonance is like a springboard for us to use it as an opportunity for growth.

Understanding Concepts

When people smoke (behaviour), they are already aware that smoking causes cancer (cognition).

The principle of cognitive consistence is of prime importance here, as it states that we seek consistency in our beliefs and attitudes in any situation where two cognitions are inconsistent.

In 1957, it was Leon Festinger (an American social psychologist who was best known for his cognitive dissonance and social comparison theory) who had proposed that humans strive for internal psychological consistency in order to mentally function in the real world. If there is any inconsistency between the attitudes or behaviour (dissonance) something needs to be done to eliminate the dissonance.

There are three ways by which dissonance can be reduced:

• Individuals can change one or more of the attitudes behaviours, beliefs, etc. 

so as to make the relationship between the two elements a consonant one. 

      If one of the dissonant elements is behaviour the individual can change or eliminate the behaviour. However, this mode of dissonance reduction frequently presents problems for people, as it is difficult to remember/learn behavioural-responses (giving up smoking).

•      To acquire new information that outweighs the dissonant beliefs:

      For instance, thinking smoking causes lung cancer will cause dissonance if a person smokes. However, new information such as “research has not proved definitely that smoking causes lung cancer” may reduce the dissonance.

•           To reduce the importance of the cognitions (i.e. beliefs, attitudes): 

     A person could convince themselves that it is better to “live for today” rather than to “save for tomorrow”. In short, he/she could talk him/her self into believing that a short life that is filled with sensual pleasures and smoking is better than a long life that is devoid of such joys. In such a manner, he would also decrease the importance of the dissonant cognition (i.e. the fact that smoking is seriously dangerous for health)

Now, it’s very important to bear in mind that the dissonance theory in no way has stated that these modes of dissonance WILL ACTUALLY work. 

It is only up to the individual who is in the state of cognitive dissonance who can take the required steps to reduce the extent of their dissonance. 

Dissonance theorists have gone to great lengths to find out how people are able to reduce their dissonance. Through a lot of research, it has been found that there are three main factors that their research can be divided into: forced compliance behaviour, decision-making and effort. 

Forced Compliance Behaviour

Have you ever been forced to do something in public, which you DID NOT want to do (PRIVATELY)? This is a classic case where dissonance is created between your cognition (the fact that you don't want to do something-“I didn't want to do this”) and your behaviour (you did it).

Forced compliance occurs when an individual performs a behaviour that is inconsistent with his/her own beliefs. The behaviour cannot be changed as it’s in the past so reducing the dissonance is the only way. This can happen by re-evaluating your attitude in what you have done, perhaps.            


Decision Making

Decisions, decision are everywhere in life and there is bound to be dissonance. Every decision has their good and bad points, but once you make a choice you have to accept the disadvantages of the chosen one. There are many ways to reduce dissonance that is aroused by making a decision-making. 

One method is to increase the attractiveness of the chosen alternative and to decrease the attractiveness of the rejected alternative, through a method called “spreading apart the alternatives”.

Effort

In most cases, it is natural to view those items or goals as ‘highly’, which require a considerable amount of effort to achieve. Of course, that doesn't mean we could also spend years in achieving something that could actually turn out to be utter rubbish.

What's Going on in YOUR BRAIN?

If we have put effort into a task that we have chosen to carry out, but it turns out badly, then we experience dissonance. In order to reduce the dissonance we try to persuade ourselves that the effort was worth it. This sort of dissonance is known as ‘effort justification.’  

So, what’s it like – to face cognitive dissonance?

A typical example, many smokers who smoke are well aware of the bad effects of tobacco on health but yet want to live a long and healthy life.  Instead of focusing on the 6 million people who die from cigarette usage every year; they will focus on that ONE 73 year-old Keith Richards who was a heavy smoker.

Even within families, a lot of dissonance can be experienced. There can be some family members who cant even deal with the fact that they have both hatred as well as love for their family. So, what do they do? They block the hatred through dissociation and denial. They cannot even confront the negative feelings within their own family!

When does Dissonance occur?

Dissonance is most powerful when it comes to our sense of self-image. Internal projections during our decision-making are dissonance in action. In addition to this, feelings of foolishness and immorality are also included here.

There are also many times when an action has been done and it CANNOT be ‘undone’. This creates an after-the-fact dissonance and compels us to even change our beliefs. If our beliefs are changed, then the dissonance appears during the decision-making and we take actions that we would otherwise not have taken.  

It is the central mechanism by which we experience new differences in the world and appears virtually in all evaluations and decisions. Even if we see other people behave in manners that are different to our images of them that TOO is dissonance!

In fact, dissonance increases with: 

• Importance of the subject to us
• How strongly the dissonant thoughts conflict
• The inability to explain and rationalise the conflict

Cognitive dissonance is a motivator that helps us to change one or the other conflicting beliefs or actions. To release the tension, we take one of the three measures:

• Change our behaviour
• Justify our behaviour by changing the conflicting cognition
• Justify our behaviour by adding new cognitions

It is only natural to want stability in life that would include psychological stability, consistency and certainty. However, our internal world may operate differently and this is where the dissonance (mental strain, discomfort or stress) comes into the picture; when our internal world is uncertain and inconsistent. As a result, we feel less capable of being able to deal with our own lives effectively.

If we chronically feel high levels of dissonance, then we could be at the risk of depression and anxiety disorders. In turn, as our mind and body is essentially an interdependent unit it could even lead to the risk of physical illnesses.

There are many instances when cognitive dissonance causes strain on our lives. In addition to confronting such a situation, there is a lot of ‘cognitive work’ that needs to be done so as to reduce the mental strain that is upon us. Our mind, in such cases can even resort to methods such as self-deception just to be able to maintain some sense of inner-consistency; while confronting the consistent actions or views.

It is very important to be aware of the problems that can be created by cognitive dissonance. We have to be able to protect our inner and outer pressures and problems and be able to suspect when we feel shaky or uncertain, so then we can defensively defend ourselves. In today’s time, there are many manipulators –which is inclusive of politicians, media corporations and talk show blowhard’s who exploit cognitive dissonance for their own selfish ends. In the whole process, they even manage to harm others. 

What is needed to deal with Cognitive Dissonance?

Awareness is the first and foremost step. It is the master strategy in reducing psychological discomfort. That doesn't mean that you automatically become defensive. You have to weigh out all your options, consider them carefully and only after considering HOW AND WHY YOU ARE FEELING what you are should you make any decision. It’s easy to get dragged into a conditioned trance, which of course will lead to cognitive dissonance. 

It is only with AWARENESS that we can UN-PACK internal conflict and then wisely sort everything out. There is no need to choose one side over the other or even have to deny any side.

Can you remember any time that you have felt uncomfortable, either alone or with a friend? Stop and see if you can understand the inner conflict within and try to notice how it came about. If it was caused/created by somebody else only YOU can decide to not play with it anymore and end the conflict.