Chapter16 Cognitive Dissonance Theory

The cognitive dissonance theory is the idea that their is discomfort when our attitudes and behaviors do not match up. The theory goes into explain that the level of dissonance will always depend on how important the issue is and also depends how much of a difference their is between the attitude and behavior. When i think of this theory in terms of my own life, the first thing that comes to mind is when I get a bad grade on a paper or test, I talk myself into thinking that the test really wasn't that big of a deal, or the paper won't really effect my grade that much. By doing this I am trying to change my attitude towards the importance of the paper or test so that I feel somewhat better about the results. Another example of this that comes to mind that have a smaller level of dissonance would times when I would decide not to go out on a weekend and that weekend something fun or crazy would happen. I would then try and tell myself that it was better that I didn't go because I could have gotten into trouble or if I had gone that I would't of been ab;e to any work done the next day.