Cognitive Dissonance Term paper

While the free essays can give you inspiration for writing, they cannot be used 'as is' because they will not meet your assignment's requirements. If you are in a time crunch, then you need a custom written term paper on your subject (cognitive dissonance)
Here you can hire an independent writer/researcher to custom write you an authentic essay to your specifications that will pass any plagiarism test (e.g. Turnitin). Waste no more time!

Cognitive Dissonance

How do human beings make decisions? What triggers a person to take

action at any given point? These are all questions that I will attempt to answer

with my theoretical research into Leon Festinger's theory of cognitive

dissonance, as well as many of the other related theories. We often do not

realize the psychological events that take place in our everyday lives. It is

important to take notice of theories, such as the balance theory, the congruency

theory and the cognitive dissonance theory so that one's self-persuasion occurs

knowingly. As psychologist and theorist gain a better understanding of

Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory manipulation could occur more easily

than it already does in today's society.

Leon Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory is very closely related to

many of the consistency theories. The first of the major consistency theories,

the balance theory, was proposed by Fritz Heider (1946, 1958) and was later

revised by Theodore Newcomb (1953) (Larson, 1995). Heider and Newcomb's theory

was mostly looking at the interaction between two people (interpersonally) and

the conflicts that arose between them. When two people have conflicting opinions

or tension is felt between another person, it is more likely persuasion will

occur. Because if no tension was felt between the two parties, or there were no

conflicting opinions there would be no need to persuade each other. If you think

about it persuasion occurs only because there is tension between two facts,

ideas or people.

Charles Larson writes in his book, Persuasion, Reception and

Responsibility, “another approach to the consistency theory is congruency theory,

by Charles Osgood and Percy Tennenbaum (1955)” (p.82). This theory suggest that

we want to have balance in our lives and there is a systematic way to

numerically figure it out. When two attitudes collide we must strive to strike a

balance between the two attitudes. The balance varies depending on the intensity

we feel about each attitude and our pre-disposed positions concerning the

attitude. We either have a favorable , neutral or unfavorable opinion concerning

ideas. When two attitudes collide we will attempt to downgrade the favorable

position and upgrade the unfavorable position so that we feel a balance. For

example, suppose someone thought of Mel Gibson as a good role model. Later on

they come to find out Mel Gibson does not like football. If the person was to

like both football and Mel Gibson one of three things would happen: 1) The

individual would downgrade their opinion of Mel Gibson, or 2) downgrade football,

or 3) downgrade both. The action taken would create psychological consistency in

one's mind. These theories are very interesting and have been quite researched,

but none more so than Leon Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance.

Leon Festinger's theory, unlike the others I have described, deal with

quantitative aspects, as well as qualitative. That's what is so different and

revolutionary about Festinger's theory. Robert Wicklund and Jack Brehm (1976),

in their book Perspectives on Cognitive Dissonance, write,“ Most notably, the

original statement of dissonance theory included propositions about the

resistance-to-change of cognitions and about the proportion of cognitions that

are dissonant, both of which allowed powerful and innovative analyses of

psychological situations (p.1). The term “dissonance” refers to the relation

between two elements. When two elements do not fit together they are considered

dissonant. Cognitive dissonance can be broken down into a number of elements. As

Brehm and Cohen (1962) write, “A dissonant relationship exist between two

cognitive elements when a person possesses one which follows the obverse of

another that he possesses. A person experiences dissonance, that is, a

motivational tension, when he (or she) has cognitions among which there are one

or more dissonant relationships” (p.4).Cognitive dissonance can occur

intrapersonally as well as between two or more people.

With individual cognitive dissonance the individual longs for

consistency within their own mind. Second, there exist dissonance between two or

more people. This occurs when two people have differing opinions about a

particular issue. This phenomenon may have something to do with varying degrees

of knowledge about the issue or different belief systems being enacted. An

example of this can be seen by taking a look at the cultures of the West versus

cultures of the East. Cultures of the East value loyalty and honor. Cultures of

the West have different value systems that often collide with those of the East.

Between two parties, dissonance may arise from: (1) logical inconsistency; (2)

because of cultural mores: (3) because of a specific opinion; and (4) because of

past experience. To reduce cognitive dissonance a person can either reduce the

dissonant cognition, or its relative importance can be reduced (Wicklund and

Brehm, 1976, p.5). Although the theory assumes that dissonance will be

eliminated or reduced, only the thought about taking action to do so is a given.

The means employed by any given individual to meet these ends is still open to

speculation. Action taken depends solely on the many variables involved, such as

ego involvement, commitment, past experiences and so on. We all react

differently to dissonant cognitions that we are confronted with. My research

attempts to examine the different reactions that people have had to different

opinions I have declared which involve them heavily. The area I have chosen to

look at is the habits which many of my close friends engage in: smoking. This is

often a difficult topic to discuss because it is an addictive habit and very

personal to many people. Full well knowing these facts, I attempted to delve in

the minds of my friends and put many of the theories afore mentioned to use in

the practical world.

To undertake my research project I observed my friends in their everyday

routines. I chose to attempt to persuade many of my friends to stop smoking.

While attempting to undertake this momentous task I observed many of the

consistency theories, especially Festinger's theory of cognitive-dissonance. The

research method that was used was first hand observation. You could say that I

was undertaking a form of ethnographic research. Most of the time I had to

become an active member...

You should cite this paper as follows:

MLA Style
. EssayMania.com. Retrieved on 25 May, 2012 from
    <http://essaymania.com/41461/cognitive-dissonance>

More College Papers

Cloning essay
Cloning Genetic engineering, altering the inherited characteristics of an organism in a predetermined way, by introducing into it a piece of the genetic material of another organism. Genetic engineering offers the hope of cures for many inherited diseases, once the problem of low efficienci

Cigarettes and Their Destruction of the Brain essay
Cigarettes and Their Destruction of the Brain Smokers generally feel more comfortable after that especially important first cigarette of the day. Within just a few seconds of "lighting up," smoking activates mind-altering changes. Smokers are well aware of the long-term risks of their hab

Inflammatory Bowel Disease/ Crohn's Disease essay
Inflammatory Bowel Disease/ Crohn's Disease Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a group of chronic disorders that cause inflammation or ulceration in the small and large intestines. Most often IBD is classified as ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease but may be referred to as colitis, ent