MIXORA CONCEPT
Cognitive dissonance
An uncomfortable state associated with inconsistency among beliefs, attitudes, self-conceptions or behavior.
People can reduce inconsistency by changing behavior, revising a belief, adding a justification or avoiding reminders. Competing theories explain some findings differently, so dissonance should not be used as a universal mind-reading label.
What “Moderate evidence” means
The pattern has meaningful research support, but its size or reliability depends more strongly on context, population, measurement or competing explanations.
VISUAL EXPLANATION · MARKER BOARDAfter buying an expensive paint, a person may emphasize its strengths and discount evidence that a cheaper one performed better.
Dissonance is the tension from inconsistency, not simply any disagreement, guilt or hypocrisy.
Which two commitments are difficult to hold together, and how is the tension being reduced?
Reasoning shaped by a preferred conclusion, identity, emotion or practical incentive.
→thoughtConfirmation biasA tendency to seek, interpret or remember information in ways that favor an existing belief or hypothesis.
→thoughtSunk-cost fallacyContinuing a choice because of resources already spent even when those resources cannot be recovered and no longer improve the future options.
→thoughtCognitive biasA systematic pattern in judgment or memory that departs from a relevant standard or produces predictable error.
→SOURCES & TRUST
References
Last reviewed
- 01Cognitive Dissonance TheoryReference source
American Psychological Association · APA Dictionary of Psychology
Definition and scope of theories about discomfort from inconsistent cognitions.
What the source labels mean
- Primary source
- Original work, experiment, standard or historical text.
- Academic source
- Scholarly research or review published for an academic audience.
- Reference source
- An expert standard, encyclopedia or institutional explanation that summarizes a field.
- General reference
- A practical specialist resource useful for application, but not treated as decisive research by itself.