Cognitive Dissonance

ByDr. Berney

Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance is a basic psychological principle wherein a person holds a particular belief or idea despite evidence to suggest that their belief or idea is incorrect. This experience is usually accompanied by some form of discomfort or distress, which may manifest as defensiveness, anger, depression, or even avoidance/denial.

In yesterday’s blog post, I described a phenomenon that seems to be highly prevalent during election season. While I am certain that it has always been around, this observation seems much more overt as it relates to the 2016 presidential race.

More and more politicians seem to be running on the premise that they have been “guided (or chosen) by God” to serve in a particular office. Multiple examples exist where candidates make statements to suggest that they have “heard the message from God” that they are anointed to be the next president of the United States of America.

While these candidates make such claims, I am struck with two observations. The first is the fact that two individuals, standing – at times – on the same stage, claim that they are God’s chosen candidate. The second is that despite their believed calling, many of these candidates drop out due to lack of financial support and votes.

This is where cognitive dissonance comes in to play. How do people hold two, often diametrically opposed pieces of information, in their belief structure at the same time? How can you believe that you are God’s chosen leader, while at the same time fail to secure enough support to see you through to the end? And more importantly, what does this experience do to your psychological state?

If we broaden the scope of cognitive dissonance beyond politics, we find these same issues at other times in our lives. For example, there are times when we feel very frustrated, angry, or even depressed and tell ourselves that we “always fail” or that “things will never get better.” In fact, there are times when we say these kinds of things to ourselves immediately after something very positive happens. This leaves us experiencing something good, while maintaining negative thoughts.

As you can well imagine, these types of situations foster and/or exacerbate mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression. Generally speaking, instead of cognitive dissonance, we seek cognitive consistency. That is, we seek to align our beliefs with our actions. Therefore, when you are really depressed and only experience negative beliefs about yourself, you really only attend to (and remember) those things that reinforce that belief, the negative things.

In cognitive behavioral therapy we work to break the cognitive dissonance by highlighting those behaviors and experiences that conflict with the negative belief to help the patient realize that the negativity is not as consistent or pervasive as they believe it to be. It is often challenging work, but with adequate support and effort, many people can break this cycle and return to a healthier way of thinking and believing in themselves.

Given this explanation of cognitive dissonance, let us return to the questions posed yesterday. How do many politicians and their supporters negotiate the dissonance between their beliefs – especially those suggesting that they were “chosen by God” to be the next president – while experiencing the reality of not having the support needed to continue their bid for the White House? What is the driving force behind making such claims?

As mentioned before, Dr. Richard and I plan to tackle the issue on Friday 2.19.16 on The Mental Breakdown podcast, which will broadcast live at 8:00 am on Mixlr. Click here if you would like to listen in live and chat with us on the message board as we broadcast. If you can’t listen live, send in your questions or comments on this blog post (https://thementalbreakdown.com/cognitive-dissonance/) and we will address them on the show. You will also be able to download the finished podcast from iTunes or listen here on our site.