Cognitive dissonance may be due to feeling compelled to do something, when learning new information, or when faced with a decision between two similar options. One of the main causes of dissonance is new information. When an individual obtains new information, specifically information that is contradictory to information previously learned, a lack of congruence is experienced. As in our previous example, once men learned about the health benefits of avoiding sugary treats, he began to prepare the ground for cognitive dissonance.
The uncomfortable feeling you feel when you think about where food comes from is a well-documented example of cognitive dissonance. You haven't thought much about it before, but if you keep choosing the same clothes, you'll feel a certain cognitive dissonance. That's because if you're not aware of yourself, cognitive dissonance can cause you to act and feel quite out of place. For example, a person may get so tired of feeling cognitive dissonance every time they smoke that they seek help.
In this way, the importance of dissonant cognition (smoking is bad for your health) would be diminishing. Cognitive dissonance refers to a feeling of mental distress that occurs when a person has contradictory thoughts, beliefs, ideas, attitudes, information, or behaviors (dissonance). To explain this phenomenon, psychologist Leon Festinger presented the idea of cognitive dissonance. This type of incongruity called cognitive dissonance can cause serious mental distress.
Learning what cognitive dissonance is, why it's so powerful, and how managing it can get you back to taking charge. Talking to a coach can help you develop self-awareness and understand the source of your cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance was first investigated by Leon Festinger, based on a participatory observation study of a cult that believed that the Earth was going to be destroyed by a flood and what happened to its members, in particular those who were truly committed and who had left their homes and jobs to work in the cult when the flood didn't occur. The theory of cognitive dissonance has been extensively researched in several situations to develop the basic idea in more detail, and several factors have been identified that may be important in changing attitudes.
