Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Need help preparing for the Psych/Soc section of the MCAT? MedSchoolCoach expert, Ken Tao, will teach everything you need to know about cognitive dissonance theory for the link between attitudes and behavior. Watch this video to get all the MCAT study tips you need to do well on the psychology section of the exam! In general, individuals desire for their beliefs and actions to be consistent. When an individual holds two or more conflicting attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors, this results in a psychological discomfort that we call cognitive dissonance. Under cognitive dissonance theory, individuals will alter one of their attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors to reduce cognitive dissonance and restore harmony. For example, consider an individual who is trying to lose weight but also consistently eating a caloric surplus of ice cream. The individual will likely understand that these two things are at odds with one another, and attain a state of cognitive dissonance. How could the individual restore harmony? There are multiple options: - The individual could alter their behavior to be consistent with their cognitions. The individual wants to lose weight, and so to be consistent with that goal the individual could reduce their consumption of ice cream.  - The individual could alter the attitude or belief to produce consistency. The individual’s current belief is that eating ice cream will impair their weight loss goal. However, they might be able to reframe this belief to “eating too much ice cream will impair my weight loss goal”. While not entirely changing their belief, reducing the intensity of this belief will reduce some dissonance.  - The individual could add a new attitude or belief. They might say something like, "I learned about a new study which proved that eating high sugar foods lowers bodyweight." By accepting this new information, eating ice cream would no longer create dissonance with their goal of weight loss.  - Finally, the individual could ignore or refute information that conflicts with their existing attitude, behavior, or belief. The individual could quite literally say, "I don't believe that eating ice cream will make me gain weight." By denying or ignoring facts that conflict with their worldview, they are able to minimize cognitive dissonance. MEDSCHOOLCOACH To watch more MCAT video tutorials like this and have access to study scheduling, progress tracking, flashcard and question bank, download MCAT Prep by MedSchoolCoach IOS Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.htd.medschoolcoach&hl=en_US Apple Link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mcat-prep-by-medschoolcoach/id1503000883 #medschoolcoach #MCATprep #MCATstudytools