What is cognitive dissonance and how does it give rise to self delusion ?
2. What are the consequences to the victimizer and the victim? 3. Can this kind of self delusion be conclusively identified ? 4. Can it be proven to apply to the legal profession? and 5. Can its effects on the Nation be countered in time to avert disaster? 1. What is cognitive dissonance and how does it give rise to self delusion ? Cognitive dissonance is a psychological term defined as: Anxiety that results from simultaneously holding contradictory or otherwise incompatible attitudes, beliefs or the like. [4]The theory of cognitive dissonance was proposed by psychologist Leon Festinger in 1957. [5] The theory states, among other things, that a person cannot act in a manner that is good for himself but bad for others, without suffering psychological discomfort (or anxiety in lay terms). The greater the difference between the good for himself and the harm to others, the greater the discomfort and the need to do something about it. Our concern is with the most severe kind of dissonance w
