Cognitive Dissonance manipulated for productive dumb slaves

[keehah]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is a discomfort caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance. They do this by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and actions. Dissonance is also reduced by justifying, blaming, and denying. The phrase was coined by Leon Festinger in his 1956 book When Prophecy Fails, which chronicled the followers of a UFO cult as reality clashed with their fervent beliefs. It is one of the most influential and extensively studied theories in social psychology. A closely related term, cognitive disequilibrium, was coined by Jean Piaget to refer to the experience of a discrepancy between something new and something already known or believed.

Experience can clash with expectations as, for example, with buyer's remorse following the purchase of an expensive item. In a state of dissonance, people may feel surprise, dread, guilt, anger, or embarrassment. People are biased to think of their choices as correct, despite any contrary evidence. This bias gives dissonance theory its predictive power, shedding light on otherwise puzzling irrational and destructive behavior.

A thread to collect info on Cognitive Dissonance. I've listened to past suggestions to make my tread titles more interesting. ;D

There are many ways to explain how the brain works and how people are trained as slaves and the theory of Cognitive Dissonance is one of them.

However it is one of the best, more applicable to wide range of human decision making, and a simple concept to get, and apply to analyze any given situation.

I'm still digging for a recent study I read in the news this last week on the topic, about how the uniformed want to remain uniformed.

Meanwhile I've found some other interesting studies on the topic...

Cognitive dissonance and resistance to change: the infuence of commitment confrmation and feedback on judgment usefulness of accounting systems (http://elmu.umm.ac.id/file.php/1/jurnal/A/Accounting,%2520Organizations%2520and%2520Society/Vol26.Issue2.Feb2001/312.pdf)
Accounting, Organizations and Society 26 (2001) 141±160

This study investigates the eff€ects of commitment, confrmation and feedback on people's judgment about the use-fulness of costing systems and, in turn, people's resistance to change. Building on the theory of cognitive dissonance, this study predicts that commitment to a particular course of action will cause people to become insensitive to the potential benefits of the rejected alternative. A laboratory experiment was conducted to examine why people are motivated to resist change and what mechanisms they use to rationalize their judgment. Results from the experiment indicated that people's judgments about the usefulness of costing systems were influenced by their commitment to their favored system. People assessed only a subset of their knowledge to support their desired conclusion. Consequently, committed people refused to change their chosen system even when facing negative feedback. In addition, the results con®rmed that people normatively know that their judgment should be objective yet they unconsciously make prejudiced judgments biased toward their committed course of action

On the Cultural Guises of Cognitive Dissonance: The Case of Easterners
and Westerners (http://arts.uwaterloo.ca/~sspencer/spencerlab/articles/2005-HoshinoBrowne-AZanna-Spencer-MZanna-Kitayama.pdf)
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2005, Vol. 89, No. 3, 294 –310

University of Western Ontario [2005]
Cognitive dissonance and effects of self-affirmation on dissonance arousal were examined crossculturally. In Studies 1 and 2, European Canadians justified their choices more when they made them for themselves, whereas Asian Canadians (Study 1) or Japanese (Study 2) justified their choices more when they made them for a friend. In Study 3, an interdependent self-affirmation reduced dissonance for Asian Canadians but not for European Canadians. In Study 4, when Asian Canadians made choices for a friend, an independent self-affirmation reduced dissonance for bicultural Asian Canadians but not for monocultural Asian Canadians. These studies demonstrate that both Easterners and Westerners can experience dissonance, but culture shapes the situations in which dissonance is aroused and reduced. Implications of these cultural differences for theories of cognitive dissonance and selfaffirmation are discussed.

[keehah]

Another description of the problem: Once committed to a bad thing, we will lie even to ourselves that its actually good (to reduct mental dissonance):

[I'd add this way of thinking could be a product of civilization's slave training including having little power to change paths]

A Lesson In Cognitive Dissonance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=korGK0yGIDo
..........

[keehah]

Ignorance an easy out on complex issues (http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=196878)
BY MIKE DIFERDINANDO news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago

For many, ignorance is bliss.

And now, there’s science behind the folk wisdom.

The less people know about important complex issues such as the economy, energy consumption and the environment, the more they want to avoid enlightenment, according to new research from five studies. The more urgent the issue, the more people want to stay in the dark, according to study findings published by the American Psychological Association.

“Our research suggests that people may be hesitant to seek out information that is threatening,” said psychologist Steven Shepherd of the University of Waterloo in Ontario, one of the researchers involved with the studies. “For the individual who has lost a job, there is a lot of motivation to believe that the government can get the economy back on track. To hear information suggesting that the government cannot do this, or that the recession is going to be a long term issue, is not particularly reassuring.”

Through a series of five studies conducted through various universities in 2010 and 2011 with 511 adults in the United States and Canada, researchers described “a chain reaction from ignorance about a subject to dependence on and trust in the government to deal with the issue.”

“We find that when we frame an issue as being complex, which signals to the individual that there is little they can do about the issue at hand, they show an increased desire and tendency to avoid negative, and even potentially negative information,” Shepherd said.

They also tend to have more faith in institutions, such as government, to solve the problem.

“If they are avoiding information, they are not learning about the issue. The psychological processes shown in our research may contribute to the public's unawareness about various issues, and the discrepancy between what people know about various issues like the economy and the environment, and how important these issues are,” he said.

In one study, participants who felt most affected by the economic recession avoided information challenging the government's ability to manage the economy. However, they did not avoid positive information, according to the findings published online by the association and in one of its journals, Personality and Social Psychology.

“Things like safety, security and the economy have been outsourced to the government and institutions to deal with so we don't have to, I think in part because these things are time consuming, and are generally beyond our understanding,” Shepherd said. “So when people feel, or are made to feel like a given issue is complex, they are more likely to feel dependent on the government to deal with the issue. After all, if I don't understand an issue, how am I supposed to do anything about it?”

To test the links related to dependence, trust and avoidance, researchers provided either a complex or simple description of the economy to a group of Canadians with an average age of 42. The participants who received the complex description indicated higher levels of perceived helplessness in getting through the economic downturn, more dependence on and trust in the government to manage the economy, and less desire to learn more about the issue.

“Fear is a tricky emotion. Although we tend to think of fear producing a fight or flight response, what we often see in a crisis is that fear can produce paralysis and confusion,” said Christine Reyna, professor of psychology at DePaul University who was not involved with the studies. “Politicians and public policy advocates often make the mistake of assuming that fear will motivate people into action. What they don’t realize is that it can backfire and motivate avoidance and disengagement.”

In two of the other companion studies, researchers found that participants who received complex information about energy supplies trusted the government more than those who received simple information.

“Our research and past research shows that when we are in positions of dependence, we tend to look to those we are dependent on through rose-colored lenses,” Shepherd said. “This is a psychologically comforting view, and we want to maintain it, and one way of doing that is just looking the other way, and ignoring the issue, so as to avoid threatening information. We'd much rather prefer that an issue is in good hands and being dealt with, rather than thinking that the issue will affect me, and there is nothing I or anyone can do about it.”

[keehah]

Two Brains Running (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/books/review/thinking-fast-and-slow-by-daniel-kahneman-book-review.html?pagewanted=all)

[hoarder]

There is a pattern here....a certain tribe seems to dominate the profession of psychology. I don't doubt they are very skilled at recognizing why people think and behave as they do...and steer it as they wish.

A nation would not disclose it's military secrets unless it was foolish. War is a game of deception. The best strategy is always the one the opponent doesn't understand.

When Jews teach us about psychology, I can't help but think they're holding back. I wish we knew as much as they do, yet doubt we can learn it by reading their published material. Telling us how it really works would be akin to divulging military secrets.

[keehah]

Quite a read. They want pilots to remember this mistake. Interesting electrical effects.

Stall! (you can't stall) Stall! (you can't stall) Stall!!
popularmechanics.com What Really Happened Aboard Air France 447 (http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/aviation/crashes/what-really-happened-aboard-air-france-447-6611877)

Two years after the Airbus 330 plunged into the Atlantic Ocean, Air France 447's flight-data recorders finally turned up. The revelations from the pilot transcript paint a surprising picture of chaos in the cockpit, and confusion between the pilots that led to the crash.

[Book]

http://thru-other-eyes.typepad.com/my_weblog/images/2008/03/03/doublethink_for_dummies_2.jpg

[dys]

The media.
Because most people have no problem believing that politicians and bankers are liars, thieves, corrupt, on the take, etc. But very few people are willing to accept that the media is compromised. When trying to educate the uneducated: "why haven't I heard about this on the news?" You haven't heard it because the media is in on it. Conversation over.

dys