The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people are averse to inconsistencies within their own minds. It offers one explanation for why people sometimes make an effort to adjust their ...

Cognitive dissonance is one of the most influential principles in psychology. A new paper examines the evidence and shows how discomfort isn’t the only emotion it creates.

2007, p. 978). Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable state, so people try to resolve it by changing one of the two dissonant elements (Festinger, 1962). An experiment by Egan et al. (2007) found ...

The motivational mechanism that underlies the reluctance to be wrong, change our minds, admit serious mistakes or accept unwelcome information is called cognitive dissonance. The theory was developed ...

She cites an experiment where people chose the incorrect answer in a group setting because the majority chose it, demonstrating how social media can create cognitive dissonance by presenting ...