{"id":1199,"date":"2008-09-25T21:16:12","date_gmt":"2008-09-25T13:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/2blog.ilc.edu.tw\/2341\/2008\/09\/25\/cognitive-dissonance\/"},"modified":"2021-03-18T19:41:40","modified_gmt":"2021-03-18T11:41:40","slug":"cognitive-dissonance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/2blog.ilc.edu.tw\/2341\/2008\/09\/25\/cognitive-dissonance\/","title":{"rendered":"Cognitive Dissonance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nC<\/span>OGNITIVE DISSONANCE CAN MOTIVATE
\nand challenge learners to think critically about their beliefs and cognitions, thereby enabling learning. This article will describe the theory and its implications for instructional designers.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n[@more@]\n<\/p>\n

\nWhat is Cognitive Dissonance?<\/span><\/strong><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nThis theory, first developed by social psychologist Leon Festinger, states that a learner will tend to seek consonance between cognitions. When this consonance is challenged by a new and incongruent cognition, the learner will experience a state of tension. This unpleasant state impels the learner to reduce or eliminate the dissonance.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nA person has a multitude of cognitions, most of which are either unrelated to one another, or fit together in some fashion. A person can know that "It takes ten minutes to get to work each day" and "I like bananas." These cognitions are neither consonant or dissonant, and they coexist in the brain with no relationship. However, when a new cognition challenges a previously existing one, the two cognitions can not "peacefully" coexist in the brain. Dissonance results from the incongruous cognitions.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\"Flat<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/td>\nThe Earth is flat. Or is it round? This cognitive dissonance causes a state of tension for the learner.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\n
\nConsider the following example:<\/strong> When Age of Discovery explorers Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan challenged the conventional wisdom of the day by stating that the earth was round, not flat, this led to widespread cognitive dissonance. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe more entrenched a particular cognition or belief (I am 100% sure the Earth is round!<\/em>), the greater the dissonance when an alternative view is presented.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n \n<\/p>\n

\nEliminating or Reducing Dissonance<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nFestinger compared the need for consonance with biological urges, such as the need to satisfy hunger. A person is driven to satisfy that urge. Because dissonance is an unnatural or unpleasant state (similar to hunger), learners will use a variety of methods to reduce or eliminate dissonance when it occurs. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n