Cognitive Dissonance Theory

2. CONTENTS
• What is Cognitive dissonance ?
• Cognitive dissonance theory
• How to reduce cognitive dissonance
• Methodologies used to reduce Cognitive Dissonance
• Conclusion

3. What is Cognitive Dissonance ?
• Cognitive dissonance is the mental
stress or discomfort experienced by an
individual who holds two or more
contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at
the same time
• It is Incompatibility that an individual
might perceive between two or more
attitudes Or between behaviour and
attitude.

5. Cognitive dissonance theory
• Festinger's (1957) cognitive dissonance theory suggests that we have
an inner drive to hold all our attitudes and beliefs in harmony and
avoid disharmony (or dissonance).
• According to Festinger, we hold many cognitions about the world and
ourselves; when they clash, a discrepancy is evoked, resulting in a
state of tension known as cognitive dissonance.
• As the experience of dissonance is unpleasant, we are motivated to
reduce or eliminate it, and achieve consonance (i.e. agreement).

7. How to reduce cognitive
dissonance ?
• Change one or more of the attitudes
• Acquire new information
• Reduce the importance of the cognitions
• Adding new cognition
• Justify the behaviour

9. Methodologies used to reduce
Cognitive dissonance
• Forced Compliance: When someone is forced to do (publicly)
something they (privately) really don't want to do, dissonance is
created between their cognition (I didn't want to do this) and their
behaviour (I did it).
• Effort Justification : To achieve some desired goal and this dissonance
can be reduced by exaggerating the desirability of the goal
• Decision making :When you have a choice between equally attractive
alternatives and after making a decision the attitude changes a you
have to accept the decision

10. Conclusion
• Cognitive Dissonance have many useful applications in the field of
education, in motivating students to engage in educational activities
• The theory also predicts that individuals reward for the performance
of a task
• Knowledge of these dynamics would be beneficial not only in the
fields of motivation, persuasive psychology, and psychotherapy, but
perhaps, more importantly, in many real life situations as well like
Consume behaviour, Promoting healthy and pro-social behaviour etc.