2.3.1—Cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is the uncomfortable tension that arises when a person's beliefs, actions or self-image do not fit together. The tension matters when the inconsistency is important, chosen or difficult to ignore.

People may reduce it by changing the behaviour, changing the belief, adding a justification or avoiding the conflicting information. The response is a motivated attempt to restore coherence, not a guarantee that the original belief was false.

Someone keeps paying for a course they no longer attend. They might cancel, start attending again, or tell themselves that keeping access is valuable; each response reduces the same mismatch in a different way.

A change of opinion is not automatically dissonance. Identify the two inconsistent cognitions, explain why the mismatch creates discomfort, and state which route the person uses to reduce it.