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Salute to those who like to break someone else's account, Leon Festinger is an American psychologist, author of the theory of cognitive dissonance, which states that if people are imposed on behavior that does not correspond to their inner beliefs, they begin to feel discomfort and social pressure. And in order to avoid this unpleasant state, we begin to "adjust" ourselves and some of our thoughts to the imposed standards or situations.
Curious experiment
Imagine being asked to take part in a social experiment. The participants were divided into two groups. One group was not told anything about the upcoming assignments, and the second group was given a certain attitude.
You find yourself in the first group and now during the first 30 minutes you move the reels in the box, and for the next 30 minutes you are busy moving the pegs around the board and it all seems incredibly boring. Which, in principle, is actually the case.
After the end of the experiment, the presenter enters your room and asks if you liked it? And when you say that it was terribly boring, he is surprised and tells you that everyone else liked it and found it very interesting.
Then he asks you for a small favor. The fact is that his assistant, who introduces the next participant into the course, did not come and he needs a person who would tell him about the exciting task to be performed during the experiment. And after that the host offers you $ 1 for this service. You agree to help, the next participant enters and you tell that he is now about to complete a very interesting task, although literally 5 minutes ago you yourself thought that you would die of boredom without waiting for the end of the experiment. After this, the leader of the experiment returns to the room, sincerely thanks you for your help and reminds you once again that the other participants found these activities very exciting.
You then walk into the next room, where you are interviewed about the experiment you just went through, during which they ask you how interesting the tasks were. And give you a couple of minutes to think about your answer. You reflect and the completed tasks no longer seem so boring to you. You even begin to see a certain beauty of symmetry in the movement of the coils and the rearrangement of the pegs. The thought that now you have made a significant contribution to science and the results of the experiment will help you find out something interesting and useful, warm your soul. And you decide that the tasks were interesting enough.
And at the very end, you talk to a friend or girlfriend who also went through this experiment, but were in the second group.
During the conversation, it turns out that your experiences and the process were almost identical, except for one point - your friend was paid not $ 1, like you, but $ 100 for the introduction of the next course by the participants and in a positive mood. Then you ask how it felt while doing the pegs and reel assignments, to which you get the answer that it was terribly boring! But you no longer think so and you are trying to insist on your own, proving the fascination and hidden beauty of the actions performed.
What happened?
You were not warned that the tasks would be boring, but after completing them, you were constantly told that everyone else was having a lot of fun. That is, your initial feelings did not coincide with the opinion of the majority and you began to feel uncomfortable. Therefore, consciousness began to look for a way out of this delicate situation, and as a result, you even found "hidden charms", because since everyone else liked it, it means you did not catch something or did not overlook it. And the brain suits us with its "augmented reality".
The participants in the second group did not have such discrepancies, since they were told in advance that the experiment would be terribly boring, and they were clear of their consciences.
Since the first experiment, such studies have been repeated more than a dozen times, and each time the results show that people are prone to self-deception if they are under pressure from external circumstances.
We find simply unimaginable reasons and evidence and begin to believe in them, as long as our inner state at least slightly coincides with the opinion of the majority.
The power of cognitive dissonance
A great example of the use of cognitive dissonance is shown by coaches who sell training, and sometimes for a pretty tidy sum. There are several rules for successful coaching, built on the habit of people deceiving themselves: trainings should cost quite an impressive amount; the more people in the group, the better; always guaranteed result.
We all harness together in one harness and pull it, repeating in chorus everything that the coach tells us.
Yes, we can do everything! Yes, there are no insurmountable obstacles for us! Yes, we are the most charming and charming!
And even if we really don't feel all this at the end of the training, it's a shame to admit it.
Firstly, because everyone around is smiling and saying that now there is no such word for them as "impossible." Can't we be less gifted than the other twelve people in the group?! Secondly, we laid out a tidy sum for this and admit to friends (and to ourselves) that the money was wasted, oh, how I don't want to. Therefore, our subconscious begins to quickly look for all kinds of excuses and benefits received from classes.
In the same way, soldiers justify their actions by following orders that run counter to their worldview: after all, they are in the service and this is their duty. Politicians lie to voters, telling themselves that this is all for the sake of the country: after all, they must by hook or by crook get into the government?! For example, Hitler convinced the people of Germany that the Second World War began Poland and that he was actually saving Europe from the invasion of communism. And he himself died piously believing that Germany was the victim of a world Jewish conspiracy.
Don't give in to herd feelings, think, analyze, and don't be afraid to admit your mistakes and failures.
Don't let others convince yourself that your thoughts are not really true just because everyone else thinks differently. After all, we have a mind for that, which allows us to think rationally and separate though not so attractive reality from a beautiful lie.
Curious experiment
Imagine being asked to take part in a social experiment. The participants were divided into two groups. One group was not told anything about the upcoming assignments, and the second group was given a certain attitude.
You find yourself in the first group and now during the first 30 minutes you move the reels in the box, and for the next 30 minutes you are busy moving the pegs around the board and it all seems incredibly boring. Which, in principle, is actually the case.
After the end of the experiment, the presenter enters your room and asks if you liked it? And when you say that it was terribly boring, he is surprised and tells you that everyone else liked it and found it very interesting.
Then he asks you for a small favor. The fact is that his assistant, who introduces the next participant into the course, did not come and he needs a person who would tell him about the exciting task to be performed during the experiment. And after that the host offers you $ 1 for this service. You agree to help, the next participant enters and you tell that he is now about to complete a very interesting task, although literally 5 minutes ago you yourself thought that you would die of boredom without waiting for the end of the experiment. After this, the leader of the experiment returns to the room, sincerely thanks you for your help and reminds you once again that the other participants found these activities very exciting.
You then walk into the next room, where you are interviewed about the experiment you just went through, during which they ask you how interesting the tasks were. And give you a couple of minutes to think about your answer. You reflect and the completed tasks no longer seem so boring to you. You even begin to see a certain beauty of symmetry in the movement of the coils and the rearrangement of the pegs. The thought that now you have made a significant contribution to science and the results of the experiment will help you find out something interesting and useful, warm your soul. And you decide that the tasks were interesting enough.
And at the very end, you talk to a friend or girlfriend who also went through this experiment, but were in the second group.
During the conversation, it turns out that your experiences and the process were almost identical, except for one point - your friend was paid not $ 1, like you, but $ 100 for the introduction of the next course by the participants and in a positive mood. Then you ask how it felt while doing the pegs and reel assignments, to which you get the answer that it was terribly boring! But you no longer think so and you are trying to insist on your own, proving the fascination and hidden beauty of the actions performed.
What happened?
You were not warned that the tasks would be boring, but after completing them, you were constantly told that everyone else was having a lot of fun. That is, your initial feelings did not coincide with the opinion of the majority and you began to feel uncomfortable. Therefore, consciousness began to look for a way out of this delicate situation, and as a result, you even found "hidden charms", because since everyone else liked it, it means you did not catch something or did not overlook it. And the brain suits us with its "augmented reality".
The participants in the second group did not have such discrepancies, since they were told in advance that the experiment would be terribly boring, and they were clear of their consciences.
Since the first experiment, such studies have been repeated more than a dozen times, and each time the results show that people are prone to self-deception if they are under pressure from external circumstances.
We find simply unimaginable reasons and evidence and begin to believe in them, as long as our inner state at least slightly coincides with the opinion of the majority.
The power of cognitive dissonance
A great example of the use of cognitive dissonance is shown by coaches who sell training, and sometimes for a pretty tidy sum. There are several rules for successful coaching, built on the habit of people deceiving themselves: trainings should cost quite an impressive amount; the more people in the group, the better; always guaranteed result.
We all harness together in one harness and pull it, repeating in chorus everything that the coach tells us.
Yes, we can do everything! Yes, there are no insurmountable obstacles for us! Yes, we are the most charming and charming!
And even if we really don't feel all this at the end of the training, it's a shame to admit it.
Firstly, because everyone around is smiling and saying that now there is no such word for them as "impossible." Can't we be less gifted than the other twelve people in the group?! Secondly, we laid out a tidy sum for this and admit to friends (and to ourselves) that the money was wasted, oh, how I don't want to. Therefore, our subconscious begins to quickly look for all kinds of excuses and benefits received from classes.
In the same way, soldiers justify their actions by following orders that run counter to their worldview: after all, they are in the service and this is their duty. Politicians lie to voters, telling themselves that this is all for the sake of the country: after all, they must by hook or by crook get into the government?! For example, Hitler convinced the people of Germany that the Second World War began Poland and that he was actually saving Europe from the invasion of communism. And he himself died piously believing that Germany was the victim of a world Jewish conspiracy.
Don't give in to herd feelings, think, analyze, and don't be afraid to admit your mistakes and failures.
Don't let others convince yourself that your thoughts are not really true just because everyone else thinks differently. After all, we have a mind for that, which allows us to think rationally and separate though not so attractive reality from a beautiful lie.
