Francis Berger
  • Blog
  • My Work

Does Cognitive Dissonance Exist Anymore?

11/10/2019

4 Comments

 
For reasons I can't explain, I got to thinking about cognitive dissonance today, and after a while I found myself wondering if such a thing even exists anymore (at least for the majority of modern people in the West).  In a nutshell, cognitive dissonance occurs when an individual holds two or more contradictory ideas, convictions, beliefs, or values in his or her mind at the same time. This dissonance creates mental and psychological stress, which inspires the individual to find a way to work out and resolve the contradiction created by the two conflicting ideas in an effort to diminish the psychological stress the contradiction has caused. 

We have several options when our perceptions, convictions, and assumptions of reality are challenged by contradictory ideas or experiences. We can abandon our previous idea and embrace the new one; or we can reject the new idea and keep our old one; or we can adopt the new idea and place it next to our old one and believe in them both even though they contradict each other. The final option is truly where cognitive dissonance occurs. 

Now, cognitive dissonances can be alleviated by all sorts of mental tricks including, but not limited to, rationalization for, justification of, and even rejection of the contradiction between the two conflicting beliefs. Though these defense mechanisms do often reduce the psychological stress the dissonance causes, they are dangerous tools because they are essentially lame attempts to renegotiate reality. In other words, the pain reality causes is sidestepped or assuaged through adjustments that basically dismiss the validity of reality.  

But here's the thing - the West has become biggest and most effective reality-denying system the world has ever known. Acknowledging reality is not only frowned upon, but punished, whereas embracing unreality is celebrated and rewarded. In other words, the most successful, praised, and celebrated people in the West are those who hold the uncanny ability believe in nothing but that which contradicts reality; that is, they believe in nothing but unreality. But do such people truly feel any sense of cognitive dissonance? Do they feel any mental discomfort or psychological stress or does that disappear when one abandons reality in favor of unreality?

If so, then cognitive dissonance might be going the way of the dodo; hand-in-hand with the West. 
4 Comments
bruce charlton
11/11/2019 09:40:54

That's a good point - although probably cognitive dissonance has never been as much of a 'problem'/ motivation as the theorists imply; and indeed it cannot be altogether avoided - and is the basis of development of ideas.

But the ever-greater fragmentation of thinking, reduction of attention span, and subsuming of truth in ideology, have in practice obliterated CD as a factor.

Indeed, false cognitive dissonances are probably more influential than real ones - for example the supposed dissonances between leftist ideals such as equality, feminism, antiracism... these are not really dissonant because unified by their true motivation which is anti not pro; anti-Christian/ God/ Good - for example. Or between moral relativism and leftist fanaticism.

There is no dissonance between ideas whose real function is destructive.

Reply
Francis Berger
11/11/2019 12:29:26

@ Bruce - "There is no dissonance between ideas whose real function is destructive."

Yes, that's it precisely. When I began to consider the inner psychological states of those who support destructive ideas, I came to the conclusion that cognitive dissonance simply cannot be a major issue.

Reply
Nathan Wright
11/12/2019 20:24:08

I was reading Belloc's "Heresies" recently. It always amazes me reading authors from the early 20th Century, how fully formed the leftist attack on our civilization was, even back then. Belloc wrote that what he calls "the modern attack" on the Church does not care at all about self-contradiction, having abandoned truth altogether. It advances itself "like an animal", not by argument, but by simple repeated assertion.

That goes for the leaders, I suppose. The followers are deeply lost to sin, and the strong emotions of pride, wrath, spite, easily override the small, quiet voice saying "that's not true".

Reply
Francis Berger
11/12/2019 21:05:50

Thanks for the comment, Nathan. Everything that is happening now is part of a long, drawn-out war against Reality; so in this sense, I agree with Belloc. I like the point you make at the end - it ties in with what Dr. Charlton noted above: there is no dissonance when destruction (and damnation, I might add) is the ultimate objective.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Blog and Comments

    Blog posts tend to be spontaneous, unpolished, first draft entries ranging from the insightful and periodically profound to the poorly-argued and occasionally disparaging.
     

    Comments are moderated. Anonymous comments are never published (please use your name or a pseudonym). 

    Emails welcome:

    f er en c ber g er (at) h otm   ail (dot) co m
    Blogs/Sites I Read
    Bruce Charlton's Notions
    Meeting the Masters
    From The Narrow Desert
    Synlogos ✞ Aggregator
    New World Island  
    New World Island YouTube
    ​Steeple Tea
    Berdyaev.com
    Adam Piggott
    Fourth Gospel Blog
    The Orthosphere
    Junior Ganymede

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    June 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    April 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012

    Picture
    A free PDF is also available in My Work. 
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.