You may not be familiar with the term “cognitive dissonance,” but it’s the phrase psychologists use to describe a phenomenon that you likely encounter regularly, if not daily. We humans probably ...

Cognitive dissonance is the motivational mechanism that underlies the reluctance to admit mistakes or accept scientific findings even when those findings can save our lives. The cognitive dissonance ...

Have you experienced unease when walking by someone who is homeless and not opening up your wallet — even though you feel like they do deserve help? Have you regretted cheating on a partner — even ...

I feel a bit of dissonance over writing this post. My newly edited book on dissonance, Cognitive Dissonance: Re-examining a Pivotal Theory in Psychology, is an update of the book Jud Mills and I ...

In 1934, an 8.0-magnitude earthquake hit eastern India, killing thousands and devastating several cities. Curiously, in areas that were spared the worst destruction, stories soon spread that an even ...

Clay Halton was a Business Editor at Investopedia and has been working in the finance publishing field for more than five years. He also writes and edits personal finance content, with a focus on ...

In light of the Talbot Boys dispute, I thought a look at the Zimbardo Stanford University prison experiment would be enlightening. Male participants were recruited and told they would participate in a ...

Cognitive dissonance is a psychological term that describes the discomfort you feel when your beliefs don’t line up with your actions. Or it could refer to the tension of holding two conflicting ...

Recently, evidence derived from cognitive dissonance theory has been criticized, leading some to suggest that dissonance is ...

Cognitive dissonance is the discomfort a person feels when their behavior does not align with their values or beliefs. Cognitive dissonance is a psychological phenomenon that occurs when a person ...