Cognitive Dissonance Examples and Effects

After you make a choice, you might wonder if the option you didn’t choose might have been better. Festinger referred to this need to reduce dissonance as the principle of cognitive consistency. Set healthy boundaries from the beginning and reinstate them if someone crosses a line. By being assertive cognitive dissonance and addiction about your values, you can minimize continued conflict from the start but also empower yourself to hold that space for your needs. It can also further strain your relationships with others, especially if you’re having cognitive dissonance related to what someone else is saying or doing.

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Being aware of it and addressing it can greatly assist individuals in overcoming their addiction. Therapeutic approaches such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) can be highly effective in helping individuals identify and challenge conflicting thoughts, ultimately promoting positive behavioral changes. Cognitive dissonance can occur because people fear appearing foolish or ignorant. This type of internal conflict also occurs because people feel guilty or uneasy about holding these opposing cognitions – they don’t want to think of themselves as illogical or inconsistent. These internal conflicts are hard to live with, and if not dealt with the individual will feel bad about themselves.

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A psycho-educational self-management approach is adopted in this program and the client is trained in a variety of coping skills and responses. Maladaptive beliefs and expectancies are modified using cognitive techniques. The client is also encouraged to change maladaptive habits and life style patterns. The model incorporates the stages of change proposed by Procahska, https://ecosoberhouse.com/ DiClement and Norcross (1992) and treatment principles are based on social-cognitive theories11,29,30. Cognitive Dissonance is not always a bad thing, and like any kind of pain or distress, it is communicating something to us. If there is a behavior you’re having trouble changing, the things you’re doing to reduce cognitive dissonance may be getting in your way.

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Stages imply a readiness to change and therefore the TTM has been particularly relevant in the timing of interventions. Matching interventions to the stage of change at which an individual is, can maximize outcome. The therapist therefore planned to improve his motivation for seeking help and changing his perspective about his confidence (motivational interviewing). Each of the five stages that a person passes through are characterized as having specific behaviours and beliefs. Talking to a coach can help you develop self-awareness and understand the source of your cognitive dissonance. Coaches are skilled at helping people navigate the stages of behavior change and resolve internal discomfort.

Effects of Cognitive Dissonance

• To reduce dissonance, you might justify your actions by reminding yourself that you didn’t have a choice.
• Cognitive reframing of lapses, coping imagery for craving and life style interventions, such as physical activity are used to help develop skills to deal with craving and broaden the patient’s behavioural repertoire.
• In another study, abusers of 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) continued to score relatively poorly in tests of immediate and delayed recall of spoken words even after 2.5 years of abstinence (Thomasius et al., 2006).
• Cognitive dissonance is the discomfort a person feels when their behavior does not align with their values or beliefs.

The therapist and patient collaboratively review the advantages/disadvantages of engaging in substance use or addictive behaviour. Training in assertiveness involves two steps, a minimal effective response and escalation. Role play, behavioural rehearsal and modeling are used to train patients in assertiveness. Patient is instructed not to provide explanations for abstinence so as to avoid counter arguments. Specific training steps to suit patients in the Indian setting have been described16,17.

• In Psychology and is a certified yoga instructor as well as a certified Integrative Wellness & Life Coach.
• Cognitive dissonance can be caused by feeling forced to do something, learning new information, or when faced with a decision between two similar choices.
• After you make a choice, you might wonder if the option you didn’t choose might have been better.
• Cognitive dissonance refers to the sense of unease and discomfort people experience when there is an inconsistency between what they think or how they act and what they perceive in the world.
• We will do a number of things to try to restore harmony between our conflicting thoughts and behaviors.

Personality Predictors of IT Addiction

The defense mechanisms that someone places around themselves to keep cognitive dissonance at bay need to be addressed to start the recovery process. The cognitive dissonance is effectively wiped clean by changing how they feel towards their addiction. This allows the convoluted “logic” of addiction to take hold and become the new norm. People may also try to engage in certain actions that compensate for the behaviors that go against what they believe. For example, a person who cares about the environment but drives a vehicle that isn’t fuel efficient might recycle or volunteer for environmental causes to compensate. In such cases, people often reduce cognitive dissonance by only seeking out information that confirms the things that they already believe (a phenomenon known as the confirmation bias).

• Numerous studies have confirmed that laboratory animals’ cognitive processes improve immediately following administration of nicotine (Kenney and Gould, 2008).
• This allows the convoluted “logic” of addiction to take hold and become the new norm.
• A small inconsistency is less likely to trigger uneasy feelings than a substantial conflict.
• Group therapy and other methods must be prefaced with the “beginner’s mind,” however.
• In fact, Festinger suggested that in some cases, people cope with inconsistency by disregarding it entirely and simply blindly believing whatever they want.

Similarly, people who are in the throes of inconsistency in their social life are driven to resolve that inconsistency”. One of Leon Festinger’s early studies of cognitive dissonance investigated a cause of dissonance, and how people try to decrease or eliminate that feeling. Warren is a Licensed Master Social Worker, who specializes in substance abuse and mental health treatment. Clinically, Warren has developed a therapeutic skillset that utilizes a strengths-based perspective, Twelve Step philosophies, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Motivational Interviewing. The take-home lesson is that our reasoning is biased by our desires and motivations. To damage control, we come up with excuses to justify our desired choices.

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