What Happens to the Brain During Cognitive Dissonance? (2015)
scientificamerican.com
What Happens to the Brain During Cognitive Dissonance? (2015)
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Re: What Happens to the Brain During Cognitive Dissonance? (2015)
#2Does someone really believe that cognitive dissonance is a bad thing, as the article suggests at the end? I've just always imagined that feeling bad for poor decisions is how you learn not to do poor decisions.
Re: What Happens to the Brain During Cognitive Dissonance? (2015)
#3Does someone really believe that cognitive dissonance is a bad thing, as the article suggests at the end? I've just always imagined that feeling bad for poor decisions is how you learn not to do poor decisions.
The article says it's a good thing
>Although people may think cognitive dissonance is a bad thing, it actually helps to keep us mentally healthy and happy.
Re: What Happens to the Brain During Cognitive Dissonance? (2015)
#4Does someone really believe that cognitive dissonance is a bad thing, as the article suggests at the end? I've just always imagined that feeling bad for poor decisions is how you learn not to do poor decisions.
Think about something you wanted and couldn't have. You probably tried to convince yourself you didn't want it anyway, and it was better for you that you didn't have it. It certainly keeps me more happy! But I also try to be conscious of it and use it like a tool more than a crutch.
Re: What Happens to the Brain During Cognitive Dissonance? (2015)
#5Tolerating some amount of cognitive dissonance is one of the best things that I was able to develop in myself recently. In coding for example, I used to suffer mental anguish over seeing inconsistencies in codebases I'm working on and have an OCD-like drive to fix them. Learning to live with those consistencies freed me up to work on what actually matters.
Furthermore the unforgiving drive for consistency is a reason why people don't update their beliefs when new evidence comes to light. Consider Superforcasting[1] (a book about people with an unusual ability in forcasting the future) the author says that one common trait among superforcasters is that they have a larger capacity for tolerating cognitive dissonance. The drive to avoid cognitive dissonance shackles you to your existing beliefs (see confirmation bias).
[1]: http://www.amazon.com/Superforecasting-Science-Prediction-Ph...
Re: What Happens to the Brain During Cognitive Dissonance? (2015)
#6Tolerating some amount of cognitive dissonance is one of the best things that I was able to develop in myself recently. In coding for example, I used to suffer mental anguish over seeing inconsistencies in codebases I'm working on and have an OCD-like drive to fix them. Learning to live with those consistencies freed me up to work on what actually matters. Furthermore the unforgiving drive for consistency is a reason…
Furthermore the unforgiving drive for consistency is a reason why people don't update their beliefs when new evidence comes to light.
Only if you reject the evidence that does not fit with your beliefs. If you use the new evidence to examine and update your beliefs then you can be both open to new evidence and avoid cognitive dissonance.
Re: What Happens to the Brain During Cognitive Dissonance? (2015)
#7Tolerating some amount of cognitive dissonance is one of the best things that I was able to develop in myself recently. In coding for example, I used to suffer mental anguish over seeing inconsistencies in codebases I'm working on and have an OCD-like drive to fix them. Learning to live with those consistencies freed me up to work on what actually matters. Furthermore the unforgiving drive for consistency is a reason…
Furthermore the unforgiving drive for consistency is a reason why people don't update their beliefs when new evidence comes to light. Only if you reject the evidence that does not fit with your beliefs. If you use the new evidence to examine and update your beliefs then you can be both open to new evidence and avoid cognitive dissonance.
What if the new evidence puts you at even (or close to even) odds? Then you have to live with the cognitive dissonance until further evidence.
Re: What Happens to the Brain During Cognitive Dissonance? (2015)
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
Furthermore the unforgiving drive for consistency is a reason why people don't update their beliefs when new evidence comes to light. Only if you reject the evidence that does not fit with your beliefs. If you use the new evidence to examine and update your beliefs then you can be both open to new evidence and avoid cognitive dissonance.
What if the new evidence puts you at even (or close to even) odds? Then you have to live with the cognitive dissonance until further evidence.
There is a difference between managing probability mass and "managing" cognitive dissonance. If one of two events will occur, or only one of two hypotheses can be true, with equal probability according to the information you possess, it is not cognitive dissonance to hold that fact in your head. Cognitive dissonance would be more like formulating two hypotheses in logical contradiction to each other, and insisting they must both be true.
Re: What Happens to the Brain During Cognitive Dissonance? (2015)
#9Does someone really believe that cognitive dissonance is a bad thing, as the article suggests at the end? I've just always imagined that feeling bad for poor decisions is how you learn not to do poor decisions.
Think about something you wanted and couldn't have. You probably tried to convince yourself you didn't want it anyway, and it was better for you that you didn't have it. It certainly keeps me more happy! But I also try to be conscious of it and use it like a tool more than a crutch.
So is "sour grapes" simply a manifestation of cognitive dissonance?
Re: What Happens to the Brain During Cognitive Dissonance? (2015)
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
What if the new evidence puts you at even (or close to even) odds? Then you have to live with the cognitive dissonance until further evidence.
There is a difference between managing probability mass and "managing" cognitive dissonance. If one of two events will occur, or only one of two hypotheses can be true, with equal probability according to the information you possess, it is not cognitive dissonance to hold that fact in your head. Cognitive dissonance would be more like formulating two hypotheses in logical contradiction to each other, and insisting th…
It is rare that an arbitrary function negates another for all possible inputs.