Talk:Cognitive dissonance

Only 1 1/2 of those examples are really cognitive dissonance. HelpJazz 13:42, 24 September 2008 (EDT)

Can you explain which ones? --DRamon 13:50, 24 September 2008 (EDT)

I would also like to point out that many of those can be reversed with the same logical effect (ie, opposing abortion, as it destroys life, but being in favor of capital punishment) NateE ^{Let Us Communicate} 13:53, 24 September 2008 (EDT)

• The abortion/death penalty thing isn't necessarily cognitive dissonance, because you are killing different types of people (innocent babies and violent criminals) for different reasons.
• The Christian/evolution thing is the 1/2 example. Not all devout Christians believe that the Bible is literal, so it's not cognitive dissonance to believe evolutionist evidence. It's probably CD for someone who's a devout Christian (no matter what form of Christianity they are devout in) to believe that God had absolutely no influence in the creation of the world, hence the "1/2" example
• the global warming example is actually a good example
• the last example is not cognitive dissonance. First of all, people who "rail against America and its government" don't believe that they are "reaping all the benefits of freedom and capitalism". Additionally, if someone doesn't like the government, the answer isn't simply to move out. HelpJazz 14:14, 24 September 2008 (EDT)

Just because someone doesn't "believe" they are reaping benefits doesn't mean they actually aren't. Also, telling those people to move out is a good idea - but they rarely do (and the fact they don't move out is actually a good sign that this is a form of cognitive dissonance). --DRamon 14:32, 24 September 2008 (EDT)

It's not cognitive dissonance to want the country to be improved while you are living in the country. If someone moved to Canada, how exactly are they to improve the United States? HelpJazz 14:48, 24 September 2008 (EDT)

So DRamon, by that logic you believe that the American revolutionaries were illogical, and you feel you guys should be still swearing allegiance to queen and country--J00ni 15:21, 24 September 2008 (EDT)

Does cognitive dissonance (CD) refer to people holding two ideas that are actually incompatible, or that the holder believes (rightly or wrongly) to be incompatible? I probably haven't put that all that clearly, but part of what I'm getting at, is it CD if the person has no clue that the two ideas are incompatible?

Rejecting abortion whilst accepting capital punishment is not CD because, as I guess HelpJazz was getting at, one is protecting innocent life and the other is the taking of guilty life. The reverse, accepting abortion whilst rejecting capital punishment is closer to CD, but it's still not CD if you don't believe that the unborn baby is human.

The one about being a devout Christian whilst rejecting creationism and ID is not CD the way it is presented, although it might be if it's put in a different way.

The one about government is not exclusive to America, and I basically agree with HelpJazz on this. There may be some circumstances where people are exceptionally critical of their country yet stay when they could easily leave, but the way its worded is not this.

Philip J. Rayment 07:05, 25 September 2008 (EDT)

Rename

Please could this page be renamed 'Cognitive dissonance' (with lower case d)? I put a link to it on the doublethink page which doesn't work, I think because of the capitalisation.

Done. See here. Philip J. Rayment 18:42, 26 September 2008 (EDT)

really CD?

CD is not rationalizing contradictory beliefs -- it is discomofort for stress caused by contradictory beliefs. The examples also miss the mark -- they exemplify contradiction, but not dissonance necessarily. Ungtss 18:48, 26 September 2008 (EDT)