consistency.

Now, the moment your brain holds two contradicting ideas, you experience distress.

Your mind often resolves this problem, by tweaking the ideas until they become consistent

with the other stories you tell yourself to be true.

Meat eaters for example who are confronted with new information of how their dinner came

about can either eat less meat, deploy strategies to cope with the new information, such as

denial, or do a little bit of both.

If two conflicting ideas are deeply ingrained in our identity, the mental imbalance can

become overwhelming and intoxicate our thoughts — and as a result we may believe even the

most absurd conspiracy theories.

To keep our sanity, it helps to learn about this phenomenon, known as cognitive dissonance.

After a severe earthquake in India, rumors circulated among people who felt the shock

but sustained no damage, about an even worse disaster that was supposed to strike.

However, no disaster followed, and psychologists began to wonder why such rumors sprang into

existence — it seemed counterintuitive that people would share and believe fear-provoking

stories during such a difficult time.

Nearly 20 years passed before Leon Festinger, a young psychologist, had a plausible theory

: The rumors were not “fear-provoking” but instead "fear-justifying."

The argument: if we feel afraid and safe at the same time, we invent explanations to reduce

such conflicting states of mind.

Festing called this mental imbalance “cognitive dissonance”.

Cognitive dissonance is based on the idea that when two ideas are psychologically not

consistent with each other, we change them and make them consistent.

Festinger then examined whether a cognitive dissonance can be strong enough to believe

in conspiracy theories even after they are proven wrong.

To do so, two colleagues and Festinger, joined a small apocalyptic cult led by Dorothy Martin,

a suburban housewife.

Martin claimed to receive messages from superior beings from another planet called 'Clarion'.

The messages purportedly said that a flood would destroy the world on December 21, 1954.

The psychologists observed that many members quit their jobs and let go of their possessions

in preparation for the end of the world.

When the day came and passed peacefully, Martin claimed that the world had been spared because

of the "force of good” that the members had spread.

To cope with this situation and the heavy cognitive dissonance it produced, the psychologists

hypothesized that the members had two options:

They could either change their situations, and let go of the beliefs and actions that

formed the identity of their former self…

…or they could embrace new beliefs to stay in the cult and protect the image they have

formed of themselves.

And that's exactly what happened.

Some members faced the facts and left the cult to regain their sanity, while others

believed Martin's story to keep their threatened worldview alive.

In their assessment, the psychologist concluded that 3 conditions made it especially hard

for members to quit:

1.

If the members had deep convictions that were relevant to their everyday routines.

2.

If they had done things that were difficult to undo.

3.

If they received social support from other believers.

Leon Festinger later wrote.“A man with a conviction is a hard man to change.

Tell him you disagree and he turns away.

Show him facts and he questions your sources.

Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point.”

What are your thoughts?

Do you have an idea how we can change ours and other people's minds?

If reason falls on deaf ears, can experience maybe do the trick?

Share your thoughts and experience with cognitive dissonance in the comments below!

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