For my paper I chose the cognitive dissonance theory. I believe that this theory is one of the easiest to see in everyday life, and no one can go through their whole lives without using it.
An oversimplified way to describe cognitive dissonance theory is saying it is a way to justify your decisions. When you make a difficult decision there may be dissonance. Maybe you bought a computer for a large amount of money then the next week you see a better computer for a cheaper price. You now have to justify why you made your decision. You could tell yourself how user friendly your computer is in comparison to the other one. This reduces dissonance and takes pressure off of yourself.
Cognitive dissonance theory also explains why people have contradictory views. According to Gass and Seiter (2014) cognitive dissonance theory explains how people rationalize contradictory decisions and behaviors to themselves and to the people around them. It is also referred to as a “postdecicion theory” (Gass & Seiter, 2014). After you make a rather large decision you can have a lot of dissonance about your decision. You give yourself reasons and excuses to keep yourself happy.
The premise of Cognitive Dissonance Theory is that inconsistencies in …show more content…
A great example that I often hear from people on campus is complaints about people walking across the road without looking, or people not letting cars get by. Even I have done this myself. Someone will complain about pedestrians when they are in a car, but when they are the one walking across the road they will do the exact same thing. I’ve heard people say things like, “I only do it when I’m in a hurry” “I don’t do it often so it doesn’t matter” “well everyone else does it so why does it matter?” These are just ways of justifying what they do, in their minds by saying these things they can distance themselves from the fact that they do the things they themselves complain
An oversimplified way to describe cognitive dissonance theory is saying it is a way to justify your decisions. When you make a difficult decision there may be dissonance. Maybe you bought a computer for a large amount of money then the next week you see a better computer for a cheaper price. You now have to justify why you made your decision. You could tell yourself how user friendly your computer is in comparison to the other one. This reduces dissonance and takes pressure off of yourself.
Cognitive dissonance theory also explains why people have contradictory views. According to Gass and Seiter (2014) cognitive dissonance theory explains how people rationalize contradictory decisions and behaviors to themselves and to the people around them. It is also referred to as a “postdecicion theory” (Gass & Seiter, 2014). After you make a rather large decision you can have a lot of dissonance about your decision. You give yourself reasons and excuses to keep yourself happy.
The premise of Cognitive Dissonance Theory is that inconsistencies in …show more content…
A great example that I often hear from people on campus is complaints about people walking across the road without looking, or people not letting cars get by. Even I have done this myself. Someone will complain about pedestrians when they are in a car, but when they are the one walking across the road they will do the exact same thing. I’ve heard people say things like, “I only do it when I’m in a hurry” “I don’t do it often so it doesn’t matter” “well everyone else does it so why does it matter?” These are just ways of justifying what they do, in their minds by saying these things they can distance themselves from the fact that they do the things they themselves complain