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cognitive dissonance
(redirected from Dissonance theory)

   Also found in: Medical, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.01 sec.

cognitive dissonance

Mental conflict that occurs when beliefs or assumptions are contradicted by new information. The concept was introduced by the psychologist Leon Festinger (1919–89) in the late 1950s. He and later researchers showed that, when confronted with challenging new information, most people seek to preserve their current understanding of the world by rejecting, explaining away, or avoiding the new information or by convincing themselves that no conflict really exists. Cognitive dissonance is nonetheless considered an explanation for attitude change.


cognitive dissonance [¦käg·nəd·iv ′dīs·ən·əns]
(psychology)
Psychological conflict that results from incongruous beliefs and attitudes held simultaneously.


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Aronson, Elliot (1992), "The Return of the Repressed: Dissonance Theory Makes a Comeback," Psychological Inquiry, Vol.
However, a review by Cummings and Venkatesan (1976) marked a reduction of interest in cognitive dissonance in marketing, despite their conclusion that 'the evidence in favour of dissonance theory in the consumer behaviour literature looks good' (p.
The application of cognitive dissonance theory suggests that participants who receive a monetary incentive in combination with a survey may experience dissonance if they do not complete the survey or at least give it serious consideration (Furse & Stewart).
 
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