What is Cognitive Dissonance theory?
Cognitive dissonance: Any incompatibility between two or more attitudes or between behavior and attitudes. Can we assume from this consistency principle that an individual’s behavior can always be predicted if we know his or her opinion on a subject? The answer unfortunately cannot simply be a yes or a no. Leon Festinger, in the late 1950s, proposed the theory of cognitive dissonance to explain the relationship between attitude and behavior. Dissonance in this case means inconsistency. Cognitive dissonance refers to any incompatibility that an individual might perceive between two or more of his or her attitudes or between his or her behavior and attitude. Festinger argued that any form of in consistency is uncomfortable and that individuals will attempts to reduce the dissonance and, hence the discomfort. Therefore, individuals will seek a stable state with a minimum of dissonance. Of course, no individual can completely avoid dissonance. You know that cheating on your income tax is w
