Cognitive Dissonance Approach
Cognitive Dissonance Approach
Cognitive dissonance is a psychologic theory that presents the mind's discomfort problem when one person has contradictory opinions, values or attitudes, especially when they act in a way that goes against these beliefs. The importance of understanding cognitive dissonance is that it shows us how people often seek to establish internal consistency, which in many cases leads to the alteration of beliefs or the rationalization in order to alleviate the discomfort.
What is an example of cognitive dissonance in everyday life?
The most frequently occurring instance of cognitive dissonance is a scenario where a person who smokes thinks that smoking, in fact, is a harmful activity for their health. The disagreement between their understanding of the smoking-related health risks and their smoking practice generates a feeling of discomfort. As a way to settle it, they might reduce the risks by arguing, 'Everyone has to die from something,' or alternatively, they might start to refrain from smoking in order to act as per their beliefs on health.
How does cognitive dissonance influence decision-making?
Cognitive dissonance can have a large effect on the decision-making process when it comes to people having to justify their choices after making a decision to reduce the possibility of regret. For example, one who buys a costly car can justify the decision by concentrating only on the positive sides of the car like safety and status, while they are pretense about the negative ones like maintenance costs. Thus, the thanks of this rationalization lead them to see themselves as good, and also it helps them reduce the dissonance.
What strategies can individuals use to reduce cognitive dissonance?
Cognitive dissonance can be minimized by individuals adopting a variety of methods: the most common ones are substituting their behavior with the one that conforms with their beliefs, changing their beliefs to be in accordance with their actions, or adding the new belief that harmonizes with the contrary. For example, when a person who strongly believes in taking care of the environment decides to drive an SUV, he could either decide to change to a hybrid car, reassure himself that his effect on the environment is practically none, or enroll in environmental protection organizations to make up for his actions.
What role does cognitive dissonance play in marketing and advertising?
In the field of marketing, cognitive dissonance is used as a tool to alter consumer behavior. Advertisers make use of the strategy of creating promotional campaigns focusing on the advantages of a certain product and the negative impacts of not using it at the same time. A good example of this would be a campaign for a health supplement that would, first of all, stress the risks of its nonuse covering it adequately after that the consumers might choose it to eliminate the guilt they feel about being unhealthy. This strategy functions by the emotional need to covermmisalignments through the marketing of products that are in line with the consumer's thinking about health, and fitness.