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Cognitive Dissonance Concept
The expression Cognitive Dissonance
designates a theory proposed in the twentieth century decade of 50 by
Leon Festinger and refers to the inconsistency that someone can have
between two attitudes or between a behavior and an attitude. For
example, if a person considers as very important honesty (attitude) but
on certain day pretends to be sick before the employer but in fact will
assist to soccer game (behavior), this person will experience a
cognitive discord. According to Festinger, people search for a status
where they feel the minimum possible of cognitive discord. To reach that
status people can choose from four possibilities: adapting their
behavior to their attitudes; reduce the significance given to behavior;
change attitude; search for compensation elements for behaviors.
Translated from Portuguese
by Susana Saraiva, Portuguese-English and English-Portuguese translation
specialist. Contact: spams@sapo.pt.
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