Let's begin by defining cognitive dissonance. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary it is:
Psychological conflict resulting from simultaneously held incongruous beliefs and attitudes (as a fondness for smoking and a belief that it is harmful)
To expand on this let's begin by distinguishing between the elements of thought and feelings. Here, cognitive dissonance refers to the feeling that is produced as a result of the cognitive or thought “conflict”. The conflict of two or more beliefs or ideas that is.
Put another way, it's the discomfort one feels when confronted with cognitive processes (beliefs, attitudes) that conflict and are contradictory to one another.
Someone might say, why not just admit the ideas or beliefs are contradictory and move on. This is not easy for someone experiencing cognitive dissonance because these cognitive commitments are associated to some sort of desired belief or behavior which they therefore wish to protect.
The reasons which someone may have for wanting to protect a certain belief can be anything from group acceptance, friend or family member acceptance, avoiding the discomfort or shame associated with having been wrong in the past, or even monetary or other forms of rewards. Whatever the reason is doesn't matter when it comes to defining cognitive dissonance.
When you understand this definition you can begin to see how the discomfort that occurs with conflicting information, as it pertains to what we WANT to believe, happens all the time because by nature we want things all the time which we know is potentially not true or (as in the cigarette smoking example above) is not the best for us.
In a 1957 psychological experiment by Festinger and Carlsmith, these researchers paid two groups of people to actually lie about how exciting a (deliberately very boring) task they were given was. One group was given one dollar ($1) to lie while the other group was paid twenty dollars ($20) to lie about how great their super-boring assigned task was.
They found that the group that was given only 1 dollar to convince the other participants that the task is enjoyable was more successful at lying.
**Watch the experiment video HERE**
Meanwhile the 20 dollar group was worse at lying because the group was deemed to be less motivated to convince themselves that the task was enjoyable because they had sufficient justification — the 20 dollars — not to believe it. Whereas the 1 dollar group was more motivated because they needed to reduce their cognitive dissonance (or the mental conflict or discomfort) by convincing themselves that the task was indeed enjoyable.
Once we understand how cognitive dissonance works it helps us identify when this phenomenon is manifesting. Since this site focuses on culture and politics, let's consider how cognitive dissonance plays out politically in society today.
For example, a person will experience cognitive dissonance or discomfort when their chosen political candidate fails to keep their promises, as we have seen classically with the current president (at the time of this writing) Donald Trump. Are they (the Trump supporter in this case) willing to admit it? If they raved about this candidate, went to their campaign rallies and perhaps personally campaigned for that candidate - after the candidate fails, will they admit the candidate is a failure? Or will they double-down and blame others, deny reality or misinterpret that failure as success?
The fact is, some do admit they were wrong, but some don't and we want to turn our attention to those that don't. In the era of Trump (as at the time of this writing) this denial is a very common mass phenomenon. People who voted for Trump (myself included) see that life is not better for anyone unless you're a billionaire or rich partner of Don. Living expenses are higher, at the time of this writing, we're involved in illegal foreign wars which Trump promised would never happen. Also no justice or transparency has happened as promised and much more.
Yet we see cognitive dissonance denial on full display as some (those still in denial) who voted for Trump refuse to acknowledge the reality that is directly in front of them. Here's where the morality issue overlaps with the culture and politics. Is the reason some ignore the reality in front of them and thus the mental conflict it presents because of pride? Is it because of lack of humility? Or arrogance?
I only mention this because ironically there are many Christians who double-down insisting how great Trump has been, even as they themselves suffer due to the policies implemented by his administration (skyrocketing healthcare costs, unaffordable cost of living, loss of privacy, rising housing cost etc).
But what about solutions? What can we do to help?
The political scene today (used in this singular example) offers a great opportunity to see cognitive dissonance manifesting. Know what it is and understand there are many reasons why this phenomenon occurs.
The best approach to cognitive dissonance is to be gentle with the person. Arguing and insulting the person is not only wrong but will only cause them to double-down on their views even more. For many people, coming to grips with reality takes time and they have to see the truth for themselves.
So if you care about the person, always hear them out. Let them talk and feel as though you are listening. Let them move at their own speed. Then, in the most loving and patient manner, find ways to trigger that person's own reasoning and critical thinking in a manner that makes them feel as though they came to the realization entirely on their own.
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