Cognitive Dissonance (Definition + 3 Examples)

we all know that smoking is bad for us this is a message that has drilled in our minds from the moment we enter elementary school cigarettes are bad they'll kill you they'll give you lung cancer you know all these messages just as well as i do so why is it that over 30 million american adults still smoke why is vaping a trend that still involves ingesting nicotine still a trend in the first place why have we not completely eliminated smoking part of the answer is that nicotine is so addictive that it takes hold of people who smoke quitting isn't easy although it can be done but we would be remiss to neglect the psychological processes that happen whenever someone picks up a cigarette especially when they know that it's bad for them sure some smokers pick up cigarettes or jewels with the intention of hurting themselves but most people do not they face a crossroads known as cognitive dissonance the discomfort of being at this crossroads often pushes the smoker to keep smoking so cognitive dissonance does not just occur when you're lighting up a cigarette we experience cognitive dissonance as we read the news whenever we drive a car or force ourselves to go to sleep at night and in this video i'm going to talk about what cognitive dissonance is and how it influences the mind the more you understand this process the easier it will be to make well-informed decisions down the road and that might mean putting down the cigarette so first of all what is cognitive dissonance in 1957 leon festinger published a theory of cognitive dissonance and it defined the term as a state of mental discomfort that arises from holding two different beliefs or values this discomfort may also come about if we're pressured to act in a way that goes against our belief system the mind likes simple things it also likes consistencies and if you hold two opposing beliefs such as i want to stay alive for a long time and i want to smoke a cigarette the mind is not going to feel so comfortable so what does the mind do it attempts to minimize the discomfort in any way that it can so here lies the most important point that festinger made in his book minimizing discomfort in the mind can be a great motivator at the time this idea was quite new but it's proved to be an interesting explanation for many of the decisions that we make every day now i want to go into a little bit of some examples of cognitive dissonance the first one is cigarette smoking obviously festinger used the example of cigarette smoking to show just how powerful cognitive dissonance is again we all know that smoking is bad for us yet people who are addicted to nicotine still want to smoke or use their jewel festinger suggested that when smokers encounter cognitive dissonance they will reason with themselves to minimize this discomfort they will tell themselves that maybe smoking isn't actually that bad or they'll say that they're not smoking enough to cause any real damage they may also tell themselves that smoking is better than other bad habits or that quitting will lead to other bad habits like overeating or alcohol abuse these are all just explanations that they justify smoking with and to a non-smoker these justifications don't exactly add up they certainly do not negate the fact that smoking is bad for you but these are things that someone will tell themselves to get rid of cognitive dissonance another example is fake news now we currently live in a very polarized political climate people feel that they have to be on one side the other side is full of lying and cheating buffoons cognitive dissonance plays a part in this polarization cries of fake news is a common way to deal with cognitive dissonance failing to research the current pandemic yet calling it a conspiracy is one way to minimize the discomfort of knowing that going out and partying could cost you your life or others theirs sure there are a lot of false stories circulating on this information but simply writing it off as fake news just because it goes against your current views and what you want to do is a result of minimizing cognitive dissonance another example is peer pressure now this concept may also explain why people stay in relationships stay in organizations or jobs that are not in their best interest peer pressure can create a strong sense of cognitive dissonance it's easier to go with the crowd sometimes especially if that crowd is a cult studies have shown that this is true in one study a group of people were told to answer a question about whether two lines were the same length or if they were different everyone in the group including actors in the study gave a blatantly wrong answer seventy-five percent of the time the participant they were observing did the same to seemingly just go along with the group now moving on cognitive dissonance is powerful which is exactly why you need to know about it with this information you can be more aware about how you are making decisions and whether or not you're letting this discomfort get the best of you now discomfort is inevitable if you're learning new information hearing the opinions of others or making difficult decisions it's just gonna happen but now that you're aware of what cognitive dissonance is you can be on the lookout for it now this may require practicing mindfulness to build up some kind of awareness of your thoughts and feelings the more in tune that you are with your body and your mind and your thoughts the easier it will be to spot discomfort if you know the source of this discomfort you'll be less likely to be swayed by it i suggest allowing yourself to feel uncomfortable when someone challenges your viewpoints take the time to actually research claims that you see online rather than just brushing them off as fake news step back from decisions that you might make due to peer pressure cognitive dissonance aims to keep things simple but it can put you in a real mess of a situation if you end up making the wrong decision i want to thank you for watching this video on cognitive dissonance and i really hope that you've learned something if you have any questions at all feel free to leave a comment below or check out some of the other videos in this series thanks for watching and i hope to see you in the next video