Meaning & use
cognitive dissonance
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountabletechnical
The uncomfortable feeling you get when you hold two conflicting beliefs or values at once.
Grammar: Used without an article; no plural form is standard.
Patterns
- experience cognitive dissonance
- reduce cognitive dissonance
- cognitive dissonance arises
She felt cognitive dissonance when she had to choose between honesty and loyalty.
Smokers often experience cognitive dissonance about the health risks.
The theory of cognitive dissonance explains why people justify their choices.
noununcountabletechnical
The mental stress that comes from acting in a way that goes against your beliefs.
Grammar: Often used with 'feel', 'cause', or 'create'.
Patterns
- cause cognitive dissonance
- feel cognitive dissonance
- cognitive dissonance about something
Buying cheap clothes made in poor conditions can cause cognitive dissonance.
He felt cognitive dissonance about lying to his friend.
The advertisement created cognitive dissonance in the viewers.
Common combinations
- reduce cognitive dissonance
- People try to reduce cognitive dissonance by changing their beliefs.
- experience cognitive dissonance
- Many experience cognitive dissonance when their actions contradict their values.
- theory of cognitive dissonance
- The theory of cognitive dissonance was proposed by Leon Festinger.
- cognitive dissonance arises
- Cognitive dissonance arises when two ideas clash.
Synonyms and how they differ
- mental conflict
- More general; it does not specifically refer to the discomfort from contradictory beliefs.
- inner tension
- Less technical and can refer to emotional stress, not just conflicting beliefs.
Word family
- cognition noun
- The mental processes of knowing and understanding.
- cognitive adjective
- Relating to thinking and understanding.
- dissonance noun
- A lack of agreement or harmony, often used in music.
Commonly confused: cognitive dissonance or cognitive decline?
cognitive dissonance vs cognitive decline
Cognitive decline is loss of mental ability; cognitive dissonance is mental discomfort from conflicting beliefs.
Practice
Which situation best illustrates 'cognitive dissonance'?
Choose one answer.
Option 0 is correct because loving animals and eating meat are conflicting beliefs/actions that create discomfort. Option 1 is a memory lapse, not dissonance. Option 2 is learning, not conflict. Option 3 is a simple preference with no conflict.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cognitive dissonance”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.