I’ve looked it up, but still feel a little confused
In: 49
Cognitive dissonance is the discomfort people feel when their understanding of reality comes into conflict with objective reality, proving that their understanding is faulty or incomplete.
It’s not what you DO in that situation. It’s the discomfort of realizing you ARE in that situation.
For instance, let’s say you’re a vegetarian and you eat a lot of lettuce, because everyone knows lettuce is very good for you. Then ten years from now, scientists prove that people who eat lettuce on the regular are 20 times more likely to get colon cancer.
Your innate belief in the health value of lettuce is being challenged by objective facts from scientific studies, and you feel confused and possibly even betrayed, and have trouble reconciling your previous beliefs with this new knowledge that’s being presented to you. That feeling is cognitive dissonance.
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