I think I see where all the overbearing social media condemnations come from. It’s cognitive dissonance. Let me give an example. Vice President Biden said something nice about Vice President Pence. Then, as “they” say, “all Hell broke loose” in condemnations of VP Biden by Democrats. “How could you say such a thing Joe? How could you say you like Republicans?” So, that’s the example, and I’m sure we can find numerous instances of like turning on like in our current society. But what’s this about cognitive dissonance and how does it apply? Even more importantly, does it apply to you and me?
Three studies indicate that “individuals change their attitudes” when they see someone with whom they have an affinity do or say something anathema to their worldview. * That’s the conclusion of Michael I. Norton, Benoit Monin, Joel Cooper, and Michael A. Hogg in “Vicarious Dissonance: Attitude Change from the Inconsistency of Others.”
Poor Joe. He made what he thought was an innocent statement only to be vilified for saying what he deemed reasonable and innocent. Seems no one has a sense of humor or humanity anymore when it comes to straying ever so slightly from the “commonthink” of today’s politics. Got to fall in line—or else.
Citing L. Festinger’s 1957 A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, the authors define the term as “a state of discomfort that results from holding incompatible cognitions, such as smoking while aware of the negative consequences.” In other words, if someone in your commonthink group strays and appears to say or believe something that contradicts that common thinking to which you subscribe, you have a tendency to change your attitude to reestablish consonance.
If we share worldviews with a group, we are affected by any member of that group assuming a contradictory position. As the authors point out, “witnessing a group member engage in counterattitudinal behavior” induces vicarious discomfort. Gosh! Are we really mental sheep?
Obviously, the attack on VP Biden is an example of cognitive dissonance. Recently, a similar attack was leveled at arguably the greatest tennis star ever, Martina Navratilova when she made a comment about the athletic prowess of transgendered people competing in women’s sports. Martina’s years of supporting minority gender causes accounted for nothing because of her slight straying from the group’s commonthink, because she said something deemed counterattitudinal.
Maybe the good news is that when well-known people like VP Biden and Marina Navratilova express a counter attitude, members of the group can adapt, see that the counterattitudinal statements aren’t the end of the world, and achieve consonance within a group with an evolving worldview. At the very least counterattitudinal statements might convince some to achieve consonance by recognizing a complexity of thought they formerly rejected in favor of a simple uniformity.
I hope we aren’t becoming a world of the cognitively dissonant, but I believe we appear more often than not to be headed down that straight and narrow path. Anyway, Joe, say what you think, even kind thoughts toward those of opposing views. The world might become a more peaceful place with a rational, and not an emotional, exchange of ideas.
*Norton, et al., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Vol. 85 (1), Jul. 2003. Pp. 47-62.
Three studies indicate that “individuals change their attitudes” when they see someone with whom they have an affinity do or say something anathema to their worldview. * That’s the conclusion of Michael I. Norton, Benoit Monin, Joel Cooper, and Michael A. Hogg in “Vicarious Dissonance: Attitude Change from the Inconsistency of Others.”
Poor Joe. He made what he thought was an innocent statement only to be vilified for saying what he deemed reasonable and innocent. Seems no one has a sense of humor or humanity anymore when it comes to straying ever so slightly from the “commonthink” of today’s politics. Got to fall in line—or else.
Citing L. Festinger’s 1957 A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, the authors define the term as “a state of discomfort that results from holding incompatible cognitions, such as smoking while aware of the negative consequences.” In other words, if someone in your commonthink group strays and appears to say or believe something that contradicts that common thinking to which you subscribe, you have a tendency to change your attitude to reestablish consonance.
If we share worldviews with a group, we are affected by any member of that group assuming a contradictory position. As the authors point out, “witnessing a group member engage in counterattitudinal behavior” induces vicarious discomfort. Gosh! Are we really mental sheep?
Obviously, the attack on VP Biden is an example of cognitive dissonance. Recently, a similar attack was leveled at arguably the greatest tennis star ever, Martina Navratilova when she made a comment about the athletic prowess of transgendered people competing in women’s sports. Martina’s years of supporting minority gender causes accounted for nothing because of her slight straying from the group’s commonthink, because she said something deemed counterattitudinal.
Maybe the good news is that when well-known people like VP Biden and Marina Navratilova express a counter attitude, members of the group can adapt, see that the counterattitudinal statements aren’t the end of the world, and achieve consonance within a group with an evolving worldview. At the very least counterattitudinal statements might convince some to achieve consonance by recognizing a complexity of thought they formerly rejected in favor of a simple uniformity.
I hope we aren’t becoming a world of the cognitively dissonant, but I believe we appear more often than not to be headed down that straight and narrow path. Anyway, Joe, say what you think, even kind thoughts toward those of opposing views. The world might become a more peaceful place with a rational, and not an emotional, exchange of ideas.
*Norton, et al., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Vol. 85 (1), Jul. 2003. Pp. 47-62.
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