What Is Cognitive Dissonance?

You may not be familiar with the term “cognitive dissonance,” but it’s the phrase psychologists use to describe a phenomenon that you likely encounter regularly, if not daily. We humans probably always have, though it wasn’t until the 1950s that the social psychologist Leon Festinger outlined its theory and named it. Since then it’s become one of the most influential theories in psychology. (1)

“Cognitive dissonance is basically this phenomenon whereby we have a natural drive for consistency, in that our belief system must be consistent with itself and it must be consistent with our actions,” says Matt Johnson, PhD, a professor and research fellow at Hult International Business School who is based in Boston. But that consistency doesn’t always happen, and distress can arise as a result.

Festinger’s original premise was that humans prefer to live in a stable world, in which beliefs are consistent with one another and actions align with beliefs. So when you fall out of that perfect harmony and either think or act in opposition to your belief system, tension builds and you become distressed. That distress is called dissonance.

The theory further suggests that present actions can influence subsequent beliefs and values, a conundrum psychologists have noted when studying cognitive dissonance. Our beliefs and values should determine our actions, not the other way around — right?

But if we accept that our beliefs or values can influence our actions and that our actions can influence our beliefs or values, that helps explain a lot of very common human tendencies: like our tendency to rationalize or justify behavior, or the way our beliefs and values change as we navigate different situations in life, and that common human pitfall, hypocrisy. (2)

It’s a universal feeling that all humans have to deal with. “Cognitive dissonance is common to everyone as we encounter different decisions and experiences in our lives that may challenge our existing belief systems or contradict some of our current behaviors,” says Corrine Leikam, PsyD, a licensed clinical psychologist based in Woodland Hills, California.

Why is it important to think about how cognitive dissonance relates to your own health and wellness? Because the mental or emotional distress it can cause can definitely affect your health and well-being.

The intensity of the discomfort that comes from cognitive dissonance depends somewhat on personality. People who are flexible enough to adjust their thoughts or live with “gray areas” may not have a strong response when they notice the discrepancies. “Some people may experience it more intensely or frequently if they have a high need for consistency in their lives,” Dr. Leikam says. And recognizing and addressing those negative thoughts or emotions is important.

Recognizing the disparity between thoughts or actions is what causes dissonance — and makes you feel the need to return to harmony. “In any instance where our beliefs are inconsistent, we essentially have a really profound psychic discomfort, and we must act in a way that resolves that conflict,” Dr. Johnson says.

That’s because that discomfort brings a host of less-than-ideal feelings with it. Anxiety and distress are common, Leikam says. And it’s worth noting that the distress you feel will be more intense the more important the belief is to you. So a core value or a long-held truth being challenged (such as, for example, a spiritual belief or moral) will be more troubling than something that doesn’t mean as much to you (such as, for example, breaking a recent commitment to a New Year’s resolution you weren’t that invested in to begin with).

Consider an example Johnson often uses in class: Let’s say you’re a vegetarian. You believe that it’s wrong to eat meat, and you also believe you do not eat meat. But one night you go out for drinks and end up having a few too many rounds. Your guard is down. You’re not thinking clearly. At the end of the night, you eat a couple of steak tacos, which of course are not vegetarian. The next day, you probably feel guilty and embarrassed. You may also feel angry with yourself or like a failure for caving on your intention to live a meat-free life.

This “guilt factor” is a common side effect of cognitive dissonance. Depending on the seriousness of the behavior, people may also feel immoral, or they might develop a negative self-worth.

Often, cognitive dissonance creates a mild discomfort and won’t cause a huge disruption in your life. But when the dissonance is extreme or there’s a huge disconnect between two conflicting thoughts or conflicting thoughts and behavior, you’ll likely feel a strong urge to resolve the situation (psychologically speaking, to return to a state of mental stability). (3,4) You’ll want to do something about it.

But what? Shifting either your belief or your behavior will help you find balance and reduce the tension, Leikam says. “Something has to give — either the belief system or the action,” Johnson says.

In the vegetarian example, you can modify your belief system (by saying you’re not a vegetarian) or you can modify the action.

Modifying the action usually means trying to justify or rationalize why you acted the way you did (since you can’t simply undo whatever it is you did).

So, in an attempt to downplay the seriousness of your action in the vegetarian example, maybe you’d say, ”Oh, well I didn’t really eat meat. I just had one bite.”

“Some people rationalize their behavior and others just deny it,” Johnson says.

The discomfort, tension, shame, and anxiety that can come with cognitive dissonance are all negative feelings you’d probably like to avoid. But cognitive dissonance in and of itself doesn’t have to be a bad thing, or only cause distress. It can have a positive effect, too, if it leads to increased self-awareness that can help you grow, Johnson says. Being aware of cognitive dissonance when you experience it can push you to change whatever behaviors aren’t consistent with who you’d like to be.

Let’s say it’s a particularly cold and dreary month of the year and someone who typically sees herself as a social butterfly finds herself spending a lot of evenings alone at home. Recognizing that that behavior doesn’t fit her personality might lead her to realize that she might overall be happier if she made more of an effort to reach out to friends or make plans to be more social in her free time. As a result of changing her behavior to fit what she believes makes her happy, she might actually become happier, Leikam says.

Alternatively, maybe resolving that dissonance means that she recognizes she’s more introverted than she thought she was, and enjoys that alone time. As a result she might start to feel grateful for and happy about those nights in, rather than beating herself up for being “lazy” or not sociable enough.

That’s how recognizing and resolving the cognitive dissonance you experience can help you understand yourself better and the values and beliefs that really matter to you.

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