3 Ways to Overcome Cognitive Dissonance

He explained that in order to maintain our sense of identity, we’re motivated to reduce inconsistencies in our self-image. Cognitive dissonance is a little different than its evil twin, hypocrisy. But because we want the benefits of presenting ourselves a certain way, we don’t mind the inconsistency treatment for cognitive dissonance in our behavior. Although, when something they once believed turns out too good to be true, it conflicts with their pre-existing beliefs about their decision-making abilities. At Granite Mountain Behavioral Healthcare, our team aims to help our clients with addiction and mental illness recover.

This will help you avoid cognitive dissonance because it won’t cause as much suffering when things don’t go your way. When you’re feeling stuck or like you can’t decide what to do, it can be helpful to seek out dissenting opinions about the situation. Hearing what other people think will allow you to put things in a new perspective and gain insight into your own beliefs. Conative dissonance is when someone’s behavior and thoughts do not match up with their feelings/emotions. Facing truths or changing an unhealthy habit might be uncomfortable, but resolving this discomfort can create positive changes. Also, speaking up for another person could improve a group or culture overall.

Recognizing, resolving, and releasing internal conflict

Cognitive dissonance and the way we cope with it regularly affect our relationships, too, both positively and negatively. Enhance wellbeing with these free, science-based exercises that draw on the latest insights from positive psychology. If patients https://ecosoberhouse.com/ are provided with the opportunity to co-design aspects of their therapy, they may be more likely to act in line with their choices by reaching their therapeutic goals. Koller and Salzberger (2007) developed an eight-item consumer behavior scale.

You didn’t think about it much before, but if you continue to make the same clothing choices, you’ll feel some cognitive dissonance. When a person always has a rational explanation for their irrational behavior, this is known in psychology as the cognitive dissonance theory. Doing some soul searching to determine the areas of your life where contradiction exists can shed light on areas you may need to work on. Maybe you always expect your friends to be prompt when you have dinner plans, but you’re usually 10 minutes late yourself.

Action–motivation model

Cognitive dissonance happens when you hold two conflicting thoughts in your mind at the same time — like loving both hamburgers and cows. Cognitive dissonance is relatively common, especially in adults. It’s often caused by things like conforming to a group, accepting authority without question, or believing something that isn’t true. It’s often related to experiences like cheating on their homework because they’re afraid of getting in trouble with their teacher (compliance). This is the best option for most people because it’s easier to ignore something than it is to change your behavior. Forced compliance, when you’re pressured to do or say something you’d rather not, can cause cognitive dissonance.

• The idea is, choosing something that is in opposition to how you feel or believe in will increase cognitive dissonance.
• However, it does not affect some situations because it does not cause any harm or good.
• For example, the smoker might either quit smoking or rationalize their smoking by saying other habits are just as dangerous.
• But each way of reducing dissonance requires that you recognize what feelings you have and do something about it, Curry adds.

Every time you see the membership tag on your keychain, it reminds you of that pesky truth — that exercise is part of a healthy lifestyle. You may make a conscious effort to choose nutritious foods, try to avoid processed foods and soda, and shoot for eight hours of sleep every night. It’s also important to practice mindfulness and take time for introspection. This will help you objectively examine the situation so that you can figure out what is or isn’t working for you, as well as how to best accomplish your goals. This is someone who doesn’t like to take risks because they want everything in their life to stay the same as it already is now. They have a lot of fear of change and are usually very inflexible.