PSYC 2120 Study Guide - Cult, Cognitive Dissonance, Simple Features
8 Dec 2012
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Rationalization constitutes a form of self persuasion, whereby people convince themselves that their decisions or actions are justified. Persuasion refers to attitude change that results from a communication initiated by someone else. Cognitions: a belief or piece of knowledge. Awareness of consonant cognitions makes us feel good, whereas awareness of dissonant cognitions makes us feel bad; the unpleasant feeling produced by dissonant cognitions motivate us to do something to change our state. Consonant cognitions: beliefs that are consistent or compatible with one another. Dissonant cognitions: beliefs that are inconsistent or logically discrepant with one another. Festinger focused on knowing that you behaved in a certain way and another piece of knowledge implying that your behaviour was wrong or illogical. Dissonance: feeling bad or conflicted about one"s own irrational behaviour; a state of arousal. Reducing dissonance must somehow involve making the irrational behaviour seem rational. Rationalization: convincing ourselves that our current or past behaviour made sense (self persuasion) do not smoke)
