Cognitive Dissonance Theory

• Leon Festinger


  Proponent
• 1956


  Year Proposed
• Cognitive


  Involving conscious intellectual activity (Thinking, reasoning, remembering)
• Dissonance


  Instance of inconsistencies and disagreements
• Cognitive dissonance


  The feeling people have when they find themselves doing things that don't fit within what they know, or having opinions that do not fit in with other opinions they hold
• Cognitive dissonance theory


  A theory that argues that dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling that motivates people to take steps to reduce it
• Inconsistent attitudes, thoughts, and behaviors result in feeling of dissonance ---> unpleasant feeling and can be reduced by change that removes inconsistency
• Consonant relationship


  Two elements in equilibrium with one another
• Dissonant Relationship


  Two elements in disequilibrium with one another
• Irrelevant relationship


  Two elements that have no meaningful relation to one another
• [Identify relationship] A senator disapproves of a divorce bill because he is pro-family and pro-life.

  Consonant relationship
• [Identify relationship] Saying that you want to save money but end up being lured by online marketing strategies because of cheap prices, so you end up spending more.

  Dissonant relationship
• [Identify relationship] Not greeting a friend who betrayed you, and reasoned out that a lot of people have already greeted her so she wouldn't need yours anymore.

  Irrelevant Relationship
• Four basic assumptions of Cognitive Dissonance Theory

  (1) Human beings desire consistency in their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors, (2) Dissonance is created by psychological inconsistencies, (3) Dissonance is an aversive state that drives people to actions with measurable effects, (4) Dissonance motivates efforts to achieve consonance and dissonance reduction
• Magnitude of Dissonance


  Amount of dissonance measured quantitatively