Carol Tavris is a social psychologist, lecturer, and writer. Her new book is Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts, co-authored with Elliot Aronson, one of the most distinguished social psychologists in the world.
In this wide-ranging discussion with D.J. Grothe, Carol Tavris explains "cognitive dissonance," and how it can lead to self-deception and self-justification. She talks about the ways that reducing dissonance leads to real-world negative effects in the areas of politics, law, criminal justice, and in interpersonal relationships. She also explores what dissonance theory says about confronting those who hold discredited beliefs, what dissonance theory may say about religious and paranormal belief, and the role of the scientific temper in avoiding the pitfalls of cognitive dissonance.
_________________ No matter how dark the storm gets overhead They say someone's watching from the calm at the edge What about us when we're down here in it? We gotta watch our backs
Last edited by corduroy_blazer on Wed May 21, 2008 3:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
My masters is in Cognitive Psychology. Cognitive dissonance as a term is used with a far broader definition than that, generally. Interesting, though.
_________________ This year's hallway bounty: tampon dipped in ketchup, mouthguard, one sock, severed teddy bear head, pregnancy test, gym bag containing unwashed gym clothes and a half-eaten sandwich
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 12:47 am Posts: 46000 Location: Reasonville
one part of that interview i hadn't thought about was when she hit on how people who think they are smart and nice handle themselves when they do something stupid and mean. instead of realizing their action, and admitting their mistake, they seek to justify their action because of their belief that they are smart and nice. they could never do something stupid and mean.
another part i actually have considered recently is widening your circle to people who aren't like you because of the influence that would have. like the lincoln reference, for instance.
_________________ No matter how dark the storm gets overhead They say someone's watching from the calm at the edge What about us when we're down here in it? We gotta watch our backs
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 12:47 am Posts: 46000 Location: Reasonville
so, would this be a case?
human beings are social animals. being so, our happiness depends on us being social.
people who reject that, and spend time alone believe they're happy in two sense: they do not know the true happiness of being in a loving group of people, or that they actually believe being so detached is a route to happiness. now, in some cases it may be, but on the whole, we cannot remain completely isolated and remain content.
outside of mental issues, would believing being alone is better and rejecting people who love you a form of cognitive dissonance? are you excluding people to hold a belief in line?
more importantly to me would be why this person held the belief in the first place.
_________________ No matter how dark the storm gets overhead They say someone's watching from the calm at the edge What about us when we're down here in it? We gotta watch our backs
Carol Tavris is a social psychologist, lecturer, and writer. Her new book is Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts, co-authored with Elliot Aronson, one of the most distinguished social psychologists in the world.
In this wide-ranging discussion with D.J. Grothe, Carol Tavris explains "cognitive dissonance," and how it can lead to self-deception and self-justification. She talks about the ways that reducing dissonance leads to real-world negative effects in the areas of politics, law, criminal justice, and in interpersonal relationships. She also explores what dissonance theory says about confronting those who hold discredited beliefs, what dissonance theory may say about religious and paranormal belief, and the role of the scientific temper in avoiding the pitfalls of cognitive dissonance.
_________________ No matter how dark the storm gets overhead They say someone's watching from the calm at the edge What about us when we're down here in it? We gotta watch our backs
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 12:47 am Posts: 46000 Location: Reasonville
interesting passage from the book:
"Often ... we are faced not with a black-and-white, go/no-go decision, but with a gray choice whose consequences are shrouded. The first steps along the path are morally ambiguous, and the right decision is not always clear. We make an early, apparently inconsequential decision, and then we justify it to reduce the ambiguity of the choice. The starts a process of entrapment -- action, justification, further action -- that increases our intensity and commitment, and may end up taking us far from our original intentions or principles."
_________________ No matter how dark the storm gets overhead They say someone's watching from the calm at the edge What about us when we're down here in it? We gotta watch our backs
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