| dissonance | In social psychology and attitude theory, an aversive state which arises when an individual is minimally aware of inconsistency or conflict within himself. See: cognitive dissonance theory. Origin: L. Dissonus, discordant, confused (05 Mar 2000) |
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| cognitive dissonance | <psychology> Motivational state produced by inconsistencies between simultaneously held cognitions or between a cognition and behaviour; e.g., smoking enjoyment and believing smoking is harmful are dissonant. (12 Dec 1998) |
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| cognitive dissonance theory | <psychology> A theory of attitude formation and behaviour describing a motivational state that exists when an individual's cognitive elements (attitudes, perceived behaviours, etc.) are inconsistent with each other, such as the espousal of the Ten Commandments concurrent with the belief that it is all right to cheat on one's taxes; a test which indicates that persons try to achieve consistency (consonance) and avoid dissonance which, when it arises, may be coped with by changing one's attitudes, rationalizing, selective perception, and other means. See: balance theory, consistency principle. (05 Mar 2000) |