Cognitive Dissonance – why the fuss?

Cognitive Dissonance – where the desire for consistency between an individual’s expectations and reality gives rise to irrational behaviour

Cognitive Dissonance – it’s a phrase you might begin to hear more often in the wake of the Chilcot Iraq Inquiry.

The Theory

According to Leon Festinger’s 1957 theory, we hold many cognitions (i.e. beliefs or assumptions) about the world and ourselves; when they dissonate (i.e. clash), a discrepancy ensues resulting in a state of tension known as cognitive dissonance. Or ‘A Clash of Beliefs’ in layman’s terms.

There are four ways in which individuals will seek to reduce cognitive dissonance; i.e. adapt reality to fit in with their own particular outlook:

1. Change their behaviour – e.g. I will not eat any more of this doughnut
2. Justify their behaviour by changing an assumption – e.g. I’m allowed to cheat every once in a while
3. Justify their behaviour by adding new assumptions – e.g. I will spend an extra 30 minutes in the gym to work this off
4. Ignore or deny any information that conflicts with their existing beliefs – e.g. This doughnut is not high in fat

So, at one extreme, it’s effectively a technical term for ‘lying’ whereby an individual will make the facts fit with their version of a story….only that individual will not consider it ‘lying’.

The Study

Festinger studied a cult which believed that the earth was going to be destroyed by a flood on a certain date.

When the promised flood did not materialise, the members’ reactions were divided:

• Fringe members largely recognised that they had made fools of themselves and to “put it down to experience”
• Committed members – those who had given up their homes and jobs for the cult –  were more likely to re-interpret the evidence to show that they were right all along; i.e. the earth had not been destroyed owing of the faithfulness of the cult members.

The Chilcot Inquiry

The problem is that I can apologise for then information that turned out to be wrong, but I can’t, sincerely at least, apologise for removing Saddam

-Tony Blair

Reframing the evidence….justifying one’s actions in retrospect…..making the facts fit the picture….spin doctoring…..

Call it what you will, but cognitive dissonance is a lot closer to hand than you might believe.