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The psychological discomfort experienced when holding two or more contradictory beliefs, values, or attitudes, or when behavior conflicts with beliefs.
Cognitive dissonance is the psychological discomfort of holding contradictory beliefs or acting against your values. It motivates you to resolve the inconsistency.
Developed by Leon Festinger in 1957. Dissonance creates motivation to reduce the inconsistency through belief change, behavior change, or rationalization. It explains post-decision justification and resistance to belief change.
Typically studied through experimental paradigms creating inconsistency and measuring attitude change. Self-report measures of discomfort and physiological arousal can also indicate dissonance.
Nisbett, R. E. (2015). Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Sternberg, R. J. (2020). The Cambridge Handbook of Intelligence (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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Cognitive dissonance is the psychological discomfort of holding contradictory beliefs or acting against your values. It motivates you to resolve the inconsistency.
Humans are motivated to maintain consistent self-concepts and worldviews. Inconsistency threatens this coherence, creating psychological tension that demands resolution.
By changing beliefs, changing behavior, acquiring new information that resolves the conflict, or rationalizing the inconsistency away.
Not necessarily. Dissonance signals inconsistency that may need examination. However, resolving it through rationalization rather than honest assessment is problematic.
Small commitments create dissonance that motivates larger consistent actions. Making values explicit creates dissonance when behavior doesn't match.
