Cognitive Dissonance Explained

How we feel uncomfortable all the time — and how that is mostly okay.

When we become aware of inconsistencies between our explicit attitudes and other information — be it our own behavior or facts that are new to us — we perceive an uncomfortable feeling. In 1957, American social psychologist Leon Festinger (1919–1989) named this feeling cognitive dissonance — which to this day remains one of the most significant aspects of social psychology.

Since we want to get rid of the discomfortable feeling, cognitive dissonance makes us rethink our explicit attitudes. Did we make a mistake in our thinking and should we adjust our explicit attitudes, or are the new facts not actual facts? Or perhaps it’s a bit of both? Whatever the outcome, by responding to the inconsistencies, we might well be addressing an issue that could have become a real problem if left unattended. Despite the somewhat negative-sounding word dissonance, cognitive dissonance is usually a good thing that helps us adapt to — and survive — the changing world around us.

Sometimes, cognitive dissonance leads to less desirable thinking and behavior. For instance, when we receive new information that doesn’t rhyme with our explicit attitude, but we persist in maintaining that attitude against all better judgment. If your explicit attitude towards the COVID-19 coronavirus had been all along that it is a benign virus, not worse than ordinary flu, you might try to avoid any news that is related to a rising death toll, and instead only focus on news that downplays the death toll or simply avoid the news at all in order to lessen the feeling of cognitive dissonance.

Perhaps less destructive, but nonetheless self-deceiving, is the tendency to affirm our explicit attitudes once we’ve passed a point of no return. For instance, imagine you’re wondering about leaving the company you work for, but are still pretty much in doubt because your attitude towards a new employer is not absolutely positive and your attitude about your current employer is not that negative. In spite of your doubts, you take a leap of faith, quit your current job and start working for the new employer. What research has shown, is that — after your job change — you are likely to downplay your doubts and affirm the positive attitude…