Users do not make a purchase when they first encounter the site. There are many reasons - from the banal "I'm just looking", to problems with the Internet connection, a complicated ordering process, a distracted phone call. The likelihood that a person will visit the site again is extremely small.

In order not to miss potential customers and, accordingly, profit, you need to set up remarketing in Google AdWords. Thanks to this feature, you will "catch up" with your site visitors with advertisements. The more often potential or existing customers see your banners, the more likely they are to make a purchase.

Many website owners believe that remarketing and retargeting are two names for the same technology. This statement is partly true: remarketing is a function of Google Ads, and retargeting - developed by Yandex.Direct. The difference between the two lies in the customization options and ad formats.

Types of remarketing

Google AdWords offers website owners five types of remarketing that are suitable for any business:

• standard remarketing in the Display Network;
• search remarketing;
• dynamic remarketing;
• targeting similar audiences;
• customer match.

There are other ways to bring back customers, such as those who have watched video content or downloaded an app. In this material, we will not dwell on them - we will consider the main types.

Standard remarketing

This technology allows you to display advertising materials to site visitors who, for some reason, were not converted into an order or purchase. Internet marketers advise making the most of banners. Users perceive graphic content better, and CPA - in comparison with text ads - is lower. To prevent the audience from quickly developing banner blindness, you will have to make several pictures for ads and change them periodically. Setting limits on impressions will prevent a possible surge of negativity towards the brand due to the frequent flickering of promotional materials.

It is more expedient to place banners on those Display Network sites that give the maximum conversion at the minimum cost per click. It will be possible to determine them within a month from the moment the remarketing was launched.

Search remarketing

This technology will catch up with your potential buyers when they turn to the search engine. Search remarketing is divided into two types - Bid Only and Target&Bid. In the first case, the advertiser adjusts bids for audiences, and in the second case, the advertiser shows promotional materials in the search only to those people who are included in the remarketing list.

Dynamic Remarketing

Ideal for e-commerce resources. If the site hosts a large number of goods or services, then they can be advertised to users who have ever visited the site but did not buy anything. With the right setup, a potential buyer will see your ad with the product everywhere, which is likely to encourage him to make a purchase.

This type of remarketing is based on the principle of displaying advertising materials to people with similar behavior. Internet marketers believe that this method of returning customers should be used in combination with other technologies, for example, with search remarketing.

To get the most out of showing ads, you will also have to select a list of high-converting sites, or rather set up keyword targeting.

customer match

This technology allows you to "warm up" the customers who left you a contact email. It will be a great help for email marketing. By setting up ads to be shown to email addresses, you will be able to “catch up” with a potential buyer if:

• your sales letter did not convert the lead into a sale;
• the chain of letters did not work properly;
• the person has unsubscribed from your mailing list;
• you do not want to annoy the client with letters, giving him time to think (relevant in real estate).

It is necessary to exclude the addresses of active customers from the remarketing audience so as not to waste the budget and not cause negative people.

Remarketing can be set up in Google AdWords and Google Analytics. The first option involves working with code, the second - using the capabilities of the Google Analytics service. Let's consider both options in more detail.

To set up remarketing in Google AdWords, you need to log in to the service and find the "Shared Library" item in the left menu. After clicking on this item, "Audiences" will open, in which you need to click on the "Set up remarketing" link.

After clicking on the blue button "Set up remarketing" you will see instructions for setting up. To start collecting an audience for displaying advertisements, you need to place the code generated by the system on the site pages.

If you don't want to mess with the code, set up remarketing in Google Analytics. This option is much easier and faster.

Before setting up, you need Link your Google Analytics and Google AdWords accounts . When the accounts are linked, you can proceed to the settings.

Step 1:

Setting up an audience

In the administrative panel, find the "Resource" block, select "Audience Settings" and click on "Audiences".

For those who have not set up remarketing before, the service will automatically offer to create the first audience.

After you specify the source of the audience, you need to enable remarketing. When collecting the first audience, the settings are set by default - the data of all site visitors for the month will be taken into account. Later, you can adjust the settings that were originally set.

Now you need to define the accounts in which the audience will be published. Note that you can't change accounts after you've set up remarketing.

It remains only to click on the "Enable" button and create a targeted advertising campaign.

The cognitive dissonance

The cognitive dissonance(from English words: cognitive - « informative" and dissonance - « lack of harmony”) is a state of an individual characterized by a clash in his mind of conflicting knowledge, beliefs, behavioral attitudes regarding some object or phenomenon, in which the denial of another follows from the existence of one element, and the feeling of psychological discomfort associated with this discrepancy.

Literally, this means: "lack of harmony in cognition, or in a normal translation - a discrepancy between the received and the expected."

The concept of "cognitive dissonance" was first introduced by Leon Festinger in 1957.

Theory of cognitive dissonance

The theory of cognitive dissonance was proposed by Leon Festinger in d. It explains the conflict situations that often arise "in the cognitive structure of one person" . The theory aims to explain and explore the state of cognitive dissonance that occurs in a person as a reaction to a certain situation, the actions of individuals or the whole.

The main hypotheses of the theory

• due to logical inconsistency;
• "because of cultural practices";
• in the event that an individual opinion is part of a broader opinion;
• due to the inconsistency of past experience with the present situation.

Cognitive dissonance arises from a mismatch between the two "cognitions" (or "knowledge") of the individual. An individual, having information on any issue, is forced to neglect it when making a certain decision. As a result, there is a discrepancy (“dissonance”) between a person’s attitudes and his real actions.

As a result of such behavior, there is a change in certain (which the situation affects in one way or another) attitudes of a person, and this change can be justified on the basis that it is vital for a person to maintain the consistency of his knowledge.

Therefore, people are ready to justify their delusions: a person who has committed a misconduct or mistake tends to justify himself in his thoughts, gradually shifting his beliefs about what happened in the direction that what happened was actually not so terrible. In this way the individual "regulates" his thinking in order to reduce conflict within himself.

Degree of dissonance

In various situations that arise in everyday life, dissonance can increase or decrease, it all depends on the problem that confronts the person.

Thus, the degree of dissonance will be minimal if, for example, a person gives money to a beggar on the street, who (apparently) does not really need alms. On the contrary, the degree of dissonance will increase many times over if a person faces a serious exam, but he does not try to prepare for it.

Dissonance can (and does) arise in any situation where a person has to make a choice. Moreover, the degree of dissonance will grow depending on how important this choice is for the individual ...

Reducing dissonance

It is clear that the existence of dissonance, regardless of the degree of its strength, forces a person to get rid of it completely, and if for some reason this is not yet possible, then significantly reduce it. To reduce dissonance, a person can resort to four methods:

1. change your behavior;
2. change "cognition", that is, convince yourself of the opposite;
3. filter incoming information regarding a given issue or problem.
4. development of the first method: to apply the criterion of truth to the information received, admit one's mistakes and act in accordance with a new, more complete and clear understanding of the problem.

Let's explain this with a specific example. For example, a person is a heavy smoker. He receives information about the dangers of smoking - from a doctor, a friend, from a newspaper or from another source. According to the information received, he will either change his behavior - that is, quit smoking, because he was convinced that it was too harmful for his health. Or he can deny that smoking harms his body, try, for example, to find some information that smoking can be “useful” to some extent (for example, while he smokes, he does not gain excess weight, as it happens when a person quits smoking), and thereby reduce the importance of negative information. This reduces the dissonance between his knowledge and actions. In the third case, he will try to avoid any information that emphasizes the harm of smoking.

Prevention and avoidance of dissonance

In some cases, an individual can prevent the appearance of dissonance and, as a result, internal discomfort by trying to avoid any negative information regarding his problem. If the dissonance has already arisen, then the individual can avoid its amplification by adding one or more cognitive elements "to the cognitive schema" instead of the existing negative element (which generates the dissonance). Thus, the individual will be interested in finding such information that would approve his choice (his decision) and, in the end, would weaken or completely eliminate dissonance, while avoiding sources of information that will increase it. However, frequent such behavior of an individual can lead to negative consequences: a person may develop a fear of dissonance or prejudice, which is a dangerous factor affecting the individual's worldview.

Between two (or more) cognitive elements there can be relations of inconsistency (dissonance). When dissonance occurs, the individual seeks to reduce its degree, avoid or get rid of it completely. This desire is justified by the fact that a person sets as his goal a change in his behavior, the search for new information regarding the situation or the object that “gave rise to dissonance”.

It is quite understandable that it is much easier for a person to agree with the existing state of affairs, adjusting his internal attitudes according to the current situation, instead of continuing to suffer from the question of whether he did the right thing. Often dissonance arises as a consequence of making important decisions. The choice of two equally tempting alternatives is not easy for a person, however, having finally made this choice, a person often begins to feel “dissonant cognitions”, that is, the positive aspects of the option that he refused, and the not-so-positive features of the one with which he agreed. In order to suppress (weaken) dissonance, a person tries with all his might to exaggerate the significance of his decision, while at the same time downplaying the importance of the rejected one. As a consequence, the other alternative loses all appeal in his eyes.

Literature

see also

Links

• Festinger L. Introduction to the theory of dissonance. // Festinger L. Theory of cognitive dissonance. - St. Petersburg: Yuventa, 1999. - S. 15-52.
• Deryabin A. A. Self-concept and theory of cognitive dissonance: a review of foreign literature.

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See what "Cognitive dissonance" is in other dictionaries:

THE COGNITIVE DISSONANCE- (English cognitive dissonance) an experience of discomfort arising from actions that run counter to one's own beliefs (attitudes). An internal problem, an intrapersonal conflict, can be resolved if beliefs or interpretations are changed ... ... Great Psychological Encyclopedia

- (lat. dissonans discordantly sounding, cognitio knowledge, cognition) a concept in social psychology that explains the influence of a system of cognitive elements on human behavior, describing the formation of social motivations under their influence ... ... The latest philosophical dictionary

- (cognitive dissonance) A state characterized by a clash in the mind of an individual of conflicting knowledge, beliefs, behavioral attitudes regarding some object or phenomenon. A person seeks to overcome cognitive dissonance by ... ... Glossary of business terms

An intellectual conflict that occurs when existing opinions and ideas are contradicted by new information. The discomfort or tension caused by the conflict can be relieved by one of several defensive actions: the individual ... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia

English dissonance, cognitive; German cognitive dissonance. According to L. Festinger, a state characterized by a clash in the mind of an individual of conflicting knowledge, beliefs, behavioral attitudes regarding c.l. object or phenomenon that causes ... ... Encyclopedia of Sociology

Exist., number of synonyms: 1 inadequate condition (1) ASIS synonym dictionary. V.N. Trishin. 2013 ... Synonym dictionary

the cognitive dissonance- pažinimo disonansas statusas T sritis švietimas apibrėžtis Asmenybės būsena, atsirandanti dėl žinojimo, įsitikinimų ir veiklos bei elgesio prieštaravimų. Esant pažinimo disonanso būsenai, išgyvenamas vidinis nepatogumas (diskomfortas) arba… … Enciklopedinis edukologijos žodynas

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. In the conversation of educated people, you can often hear unfamiliar words borrowed from other languages ​​or professions.

No one wants to look like an ignoramus in the eyes of others, so let's try to expand our conceptual apparatus even more and find out the meaning of a mysterious term similar to a psychiatrist's diagnosis - cognitive dissonance.

This is easy to explain in simple terms. This is a conflict (internal), which occurs due to the discrepancy between what you saw (perceived) and what idea you had about it before. This is clash of previously formed ideas and reality.

It's harder to figure out if it's time to start worrying if he happened to you.

Cognitive dissonance as it is

Like most terms in psychological science, the concept of cognitive dissonance sounds mysterious, but hides a fairly simple phenomenon. It is formed from two words cognitio(know, know) and dissonantia(inconsistency, “against”, contradiction), which in translation can mean “feel inconsistency”, “feel discomfort”.

Let's take an example. Do you have a friend with whom you periodically exchange greetings? Imagine that at this moment you will see an exact copy of him next to him (a twin that you did not expect to exist)? Your condition can just be described as cognitive dissonance.

There is a phrase that is very close in meaning - conflict within oneself. All people impose patterns on the events happening to them and around them (they create attitudes, behavior patterns for themselves). So convenient. Breaking the template causes a state close to shock or stupor. The same dissonance (contradiction, psychological discomfort).

You will have a slight disruption (break) of the pattern if, for example, you see a beggar who has been given alms for five minutes getting into his luxury car. Or if you catch a nice, kind, quiet, polite person yelling at their child.

A priori be in a state of dissonance the person is not comfortable and he will seek to get away from it (allow, avoid, overlook, ignore). For example, a person will justify his own “bad” behavior to himself in order to reduce the degree of internal conflict (so that he can live with it).

Psychological discomfort also arises when we make some choice for ourselves that affects our future destiny. Having chosen one of the conflicting attitudes, we will strive to create conditions for a comfortable stay in it. For example, by choosing an unrighteous path, we will eventually find excuses for ourselves, but at the moment of choice we will experience cognitive dissonance, which we will try to eliminate as quickly as possible.

Well, having the experience of "stepping on a rake", we will continue to try to bypass and not take to heart such situations when an internal conflict (psychological discomfort) can happen. In addition, we just get used to the fact that our idea of ​​\u200b\u200bsomething itself may well be erroneous.

Striving for psychological balance

We can experience psychological balance only when we are in the "comfort zone", and the ideas about the world around us, which are laid down in us by genetics and upbringing, are confirmed by the real "picture". In other words, the supposed coincides with the actual, and the desired coincides with the possible.

We are so arranged that we feel confident only when when everything around is logical and understandable. If this does not happen, an unconscious feeling of discomfort, danger and anxiety sets in.

The brain begins to work in an enhanced mode, processing incoming information. Brain activity is directed to smooth out this bipolarity and balance the situation to a comfortable state (consonance).

Examples of psychological dissonance from life

It’s good if the situation that plunges you into cognitive dissonance does not concern you personally. I saw - scratched the back of my head - went on. It is much worse if life circumstances put in a situation. The clash of the base and the superstructure, the desired and the actual, life principles and the requirements of the external environment is sometimes so contradictory that it can drive a person into a deep dead end.

For the first time, a person consciously encounters this in the family and school. There are many examples. “Smoking is harmful, if I see it, I’ll whip it,” says dad, blowing smoke rings. “You can’t take someone else’s,” Mom says, bringing a couple of packages of printer paper from work.

"It's not good to cheat," they both say, and push the bag under the seat so as not to pay for luggage. In a child whose parental authority is at first indestructible, cognitive dissonance begins This means that he cannot make a choice.

Subsequently, the parents are surprised - the child, they say, is completely out of hand, does not respect, and is deaf to educational measures of influence. And this is exactly the consequences of the dissonance that left its mark on the fragile psyche of the child.

If an adult, faced with a controversial situation, shrugged his shoulders, twisted his finger at his temple, laughed, or, freaking out, continued to go his own way, then at a tender age discrepancy between the known and the seen can cause tangible psychological trauma.

And since dual situations waiting for a person throughout life, then the choice has to be made regularly. So a man who loves women with curvaceous forms, for the sake of social status, can date a model. But at the same time, the state of unconscious discomfort will increase in him until he reaches a critical point.

A woman brought up on patriarchal values ​​will build a career, tormented by guilt that her husband and children do not get her attention. And this is.

After graduating from school, the girl enters the medical academy to continue the family dynasty, although since childhood she dreamed of becoming an archaeologist. Perhaps, having matured, she will change her profession in order to get rid of the constant psychological stress associated with an unloved job ().

These, of course, are not the most difficult life situations, there are many more variations. It will not sound like an exaggeration that they lie in wait for a person at every turn. So try to keep your mental health here ...

Tricks of the mind to deal with cognitive dissonance

Surprisingly, our brain has already come up with everything without our participation. He has methods to deal with cognitive dissonance, and ways to avoid it altogether.

To reduce the level of psychological stress, a person unconsciously uses the following techniques.

1. Refuse. Sometimes you need to give up your beliefs so much that you know that if you follow the lead of external circumstances, you will stop respecting yourself.
2. convince yourself. Sometimes it happens that external circumstances are so strong, and so much depends on them, that it is easier to give up your principles. You can adopt the technique of positive thinking, which allows you to find the positive even in a hopeless situation, and present it in the most favorable way.
3. To avoid. In order not to fall into a psychological trap, you can stop your participation in events if they have taken an undesirable direction of development, and in the future even prevent them from approaching.
4. weed out. The cunningly arranged brain is able to turn off the perception of those facts, memories and phenomena that are not comfortable for us.

All these processes take place at the subconscious level, so we cannot even explain to ourselves the reason for our action. And their goal is to keep a person in a safe zone, preventing him from getting into an uncomfortable situation that is difficult to understand.

Elastic conscience eliminates any psychological dissonances

Having committed an act contrary to his beliefs, a person usually tries to reconcile with conscience. The inner feeling in a conflict with conscience is perceived as very unpleasant, so any sane individual tries in every possible way to avoid getting into such slippery situations.

The human psyche is labile, and through self-justification, a person is able to reconcile himself with the most seemingly disgusting state of affairs. On the one hand, this is how a protective mechanism works, which does not allow a person to “go crazy” when he gets into superstress conditions. On the other hand, it comes into play adaptation mechanism helping to adapt to any uncomfortable life situation.

But in some individuals this is overdeveloped. In this case, an unattractive phenomenon will be observed, which the people aptly called "elastic conscience." Each of us met people with a similar characteristic - there are not so few of them. If you constantly fight with conscience or look for excuses for it, then it becomes completely dulled, and no cognitive dissonance will help to awaken it.

Life without "pangs of conscience" will become not only easier, but also more lonely. It is understandable - it is unlikely that others will stand in line to get a friend of an unscrupulous and unprincipled person.

In the world view on cognitive dissonance, or rather on such a variety of it as pangs of conscience, is generally similar. At the same time, Eastern culture refers to them than Western. The moral principles of Asian countries are more related to the rules adopted in society, and people follow them without much thought. Christian morality is dictated from within, from the heart of man.

The Orthodox tradition, in particular, explains the voice of the Guardian Angel, which tells a person what is good and what is bad. It is impossible to silence him, therefore it can be very difficult for a decent person to appease the pangs of conscience.

Is it all terrible

Cognitive dissonance isn't always bad. The human brain ceases to develop by the age of 25, because the main part of the information about the surrounding world has already been accumulated and processed. But it can be periodically provoked to further improvement, bringing oneself into a state of cognitive dissonance.

In order for the mind not to get stuck at the level of a 25-year-old youth, it is recommended to periodically artificially take yourself out of your comfort zone- change the type of activity, place of residence or work, learn something new.

This helps artificially stimulate brain activity, pushing our gray matter to a new round of development. The world is changing, and in order to feel comfortable in it, you need to constantly stimulate yourself to self-improvement. It is no coincidence that the term cognition in Latin means " recognize».

And the last thing that can be useful in a smart conversation is to thank for the emergence of a new field of science - we owe it to Leon Festinger, who introduced it into the scientific field back in the mid-1950s.

Good luck to you! See you soon on the blog pages site

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Wake up - what does this word mean?

This concept implies a mental state that is accompanied by unpleasant sensations. This happens because of the emergence of mutually exclusive ideas and concepts in the mind. Although this definition is quite difficult to understand, most people experience this condition every day.

Cognitive dissonance is a phenomenon in psychology caused by inconsistencies between the two components. Therefore, a person in ordinary life often either neglects public opinion, or turns a blind eye to his principles in certain cases.

Terminology

Most of the phenomena in psychology have a complex interpretation, which is difficult to understand without proper deepening. This also applies to cognitive dissonance.

Each person has life experience behind him and an opinion on how to solve certain situations that have arisen. But still, there are cases when it is not possible to solve the situation based on one's convictions.

Often people going against their own opinions preferring to please the public. This action is called cognitive dissonance. Such contradictions arise not only at the level of one individual, but also at the collective level.

The main causes of occurrence

The psychological phenomenon It manifests itself for many reasons, but among them are the following:

• The divergence of ideas and concepts on which the individual relies before making certain decisions;
• Discrepancy between personal beliefs and social attitudes;
• Unwillingness to act according to social and cultural norms when they do not comply with the law;
• When new information received does not fit with old beliefs.

The author of the theory and its main provisions

The basis of Festinger's theory(the creator of the CD) is based on several statements:

• cognitive dissonance has a number of consequences (certain psychological disorders and discomfort) that force the individual to suppress “suppress” the discrepancy that has arisen;
• the person will withdraw and avoid all sorts of situations that immerse him in this state.

The theory has both theoretical justifications and practical ones aimed at getting out of this state.

How to reduce the effects of CD?

There are several effective ways, able to minimize the impact of cognitive dissonance:

• Change of habitual line of behavior;
• To convince oneself (for example, to find an excuse for one's actions, thereby reducing one's guilt);
• Sorting and filtering information.

Ways to avoid dissonance

The simplest and most famous way to achieve "mental" balance is to receive as little negative information as possible, which serves as a cause of conflicting personal beliefs.

The technique is included in the concept of psychological protection. If the occurrence of dissonance is inevitable, then it is necessary to deal with its development in the future.

In this case, it is necessary to correct the formed “contradictory” train of thought by introducing additional neutral or positive factors.

Another popular method for dealing with dissonance is acceptance and adaptation. Here you just need to understand and convince yourself that the current situation is quite acceptable.

Life examples

In life, situations often arise that behind a lot of contradictions. There are hundreds of such examples.

For example, an excellent student and a three student entered one university. Teachers expect that an excellent student will study well, show his knowledge, but a C student will be a mediocre student. But the reality may turn out to be quite the opposite, and the first student will show low academic performance, and the second, on the contrary, high.

Then the teacher will have a cognitive dissonance, because his ideas did not justify themselves in this situation.

Another example given psychologist A.Leontiev. Revolutionaries taken into custody were forced to dig holes in order to punish them. This occupation caused the prisoners unpleasant sensations, and even disgust.

To reduce psychological discomfort, the prisoners gave their actions a different meaning - harming the current regime of power.

Also, cases of dissonance are common. people with bad habits. At one point, these people understand what harm they are doing to the body, and they want to quit. But the developed habit will interfere with this. And here comes the contradiction between their own beliefs and actions in reality.

An example from everyday life. Walking down the street, you notice a beggar asking for help, but his appearance does not demonstrate low material wealth. However, you will still give him money, guided by social guidelines.

Also, losing weight girls often face CD. If there is a desire to eat candy, then this act will contradict the original goal of losing weight.

Conclusion

Since the advent of the CD, many scientists and psychologists have been studying it.

Freud's theories contain a more complete picture of cognitive dissonance - they talk about all the features and ways to get rid of.

In order to avoid an unpleasant state, it is necessary to move away from contradictions that do not fit with your principles.

Despite such a tricky name "cognitive dissonance", many people experience it in everyday life. Cognitive means the thought process, and dissonance means disagreement between something. The founder of cognitive dissonance is Festinger, who put forward his theories and concepts. The examples show what cognitive dissonance is.

In every person's life there are situations when you need to make a decision. If a person cannot quickly make a decision, this often indicates cognitive dissonance, that is, an inability to choose between two or even more options for solving a situation. Depending on how quickly a person chooses what he will give up and what he will follow, the decision will take one or another time.

Usually, cognitive dissonance occurs in situations where a person faces a choice: follow their own desires and motives or pay attention to public opinion, the norms of the law, morality? So, for example, cognitive dissonance will arise in a situation where a person learns about the betrayal of his soulmate. On the one hand, you want to fill your face with everything, on the other hand, you need to remember that such actions will lead to liability before the law.

Cognitive dissonance is manifested in the fact that a person is forced to limit himself in some way, since the desired does not always coincide with the possible. For example, a girl wants to live luxuriously and carefree, which is why she begins to look for a rich man. And to the society, which is outraged by her desires, she begins to tell various excuses for her behavior: “I lived in poverty”, “I wish a better life for my children”, etc.

Cognitive dissonance is when a person is faced with different options for solving one problem, and all of them are equivalent and equally important. And a person has to choose not between his desires, but between goals and public opinion, emotional impulses and the norms of the law, that is, between “I want” and “I need to”. A striking example of such dissonance is the child's unwillingness to learn. On the one hand, he needs to study, on the other hand, he does not want to waste time studying uninteresting topics.

And since it is not always possible for a person to follow the lead of public opinion, he is forced to look for various excuses. People will start asking why he didn't listen to them! And he must have good reasons for defiance.

The same thing happens in a situation where a person follows the lead of society, which is contrary to his personal desires. For example, a guy, instead of punishing his offender with his fists, simply turns around and leaves, as his parents taught him. In order to calm himself and justify his act, which may seem like a weakness to a guy, he begins to look for good reasons, they say, “this is how my parents taught”, “I showed intelligence”, etc.

Cognitive dissonance also manifests itself when an important decision needs to be made, but a person is overcome by strong doubts. Even when he has made a decision, a person continues to doubt and sort out other options for solving the situation in his head. For example, a woman decided to forgive her husband for his misdeed, but in the following days she continues to doubt whether this should have been done and how much it corresponds to her desires.

What is cognitive dissonance?

Cognitive dissonance refers to the site of a psychological help site to negative states in which one feels discomfort due to conflicting knowledge, worldviews, teachings, ideas, values, goals, behavioral attitudes and beliefs. Often experience and what a person has to do, habits and necessary, personal and social, often come into conflict.

Cognitive dissonance is a confrontation between two cognitions that are not equally significant for the person himself, but are equally possible when solving a certain issue. And a person faces a choice, for example, between the satisfaction of physical desires or moral values.

In order to overcome cognitive dissonance, a person makes a choice between experience and actions, and then begins to find a rational grain in what he has chosen in order to explain to himself and others his choice, which may seem wrong to someone. Thus, a person achieves inner balance, smoothness. Such a theory is put forward by the founder Leon Festinger, who noted that the most comfortable state for a person is cognitive coherence. And if an individual chooses one thing, then in order to achieve inner harmony, he begins to look for justifications for his own choice.

Causes of cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance occurs for the following reasons:

1. The discrepancy between personal beliefs and the attitudes of the society or group in which the person is located.
2. The discrepancy between the concepts and ideas that a person operates with.
3. Contradiction with social norms and ethnic rules, especially if they do not correspond to the law or personal desires.
4. The inconsistency of the experience that a person has with the information that he receives in the new conditions. In other words, previous experience does not help in dealing with a new situation that is similar to the previous one.

Each person has knowledge and experience that he receives as he lives. However, new situations may indicate that his existing beliefs are not at all true or do not always work. Since a person is forced to solve problems, he begins to choose the best from the worst. And in order to achieve internal balance, he finds various justifications for his choice.

Festinger tried to explain the nature of the occurrence of cognitive dissonance, as well as ways to eliminate it. And here the motivation stands out, which dictates to a person what choice he will make. The strongest motivation tells a person which idea should be abandoned in order to implement another. And then, in order to maintain balance in the new path, a person must justify his act.

Theory of cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance has been known since ancient times, since a person has always faced the need to choose between personal desires and the norms of public life. Either a person will try to be a good citizen, or he will achieve success, which implies the presence of selfishness and obstinacy - qualities that are not acceptable in society.

Cognitive dissonance is natural for any person who cannot know everything about the world around him. The property of the brain is to remember what situations happened and what decisions were made, actions were performed, what was eventually obtained. If a person has achieved failure, then he draws certain conclusions, they say, “you don’t need to do this so as not to get into a mess again.” However, in a typical situation, a person acts differently and again encounters failure, and as a result of the analysis it turns out that he should have acted as he did in the previous situation.

Cognitive dissonance is the need to find a solution to one situation among the many options that a person has based on his experience, as well as those offered by society, individuals and even the law. Here a person must sometimes choose among options that do not correspond to his desires, habitual actions.

Since cognitive dissonance forces a person to give up something, he finds excuses. And anything can be used here: “I did the right thing, no matter what!”, “This is my life. I live the way I want!”, “Last time I did something wrong”, “I have the right to make a mistake”, etc. Psychologists identify such ways to reduce dissonance:

1. Transformation of one cognition, that is, assuring oneself of the opposite.
2. Changing your own behavior.
3. Filtering out the information that comes in.
4. See mistakes and change the decision, act according to it.

A way to reduce cognitive dissonance after a decision has been made may be for the person to exalt the significance of their decision and downplay all other options that were offered when fixing the problem.

Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance

Leon Festinger put forward the following theories of cognitive dissonance:

• The individual will try to get rid of the cognitive dissonance when it occurs.
• A person will avoid all situations that will introduce him into cognitive dissonance.

In the process of cognitive dissonance, when the connection between ideas is lost or there is no coordination between actions and thoughts, the intellect and the person's reaction to those stimuli that are present in the situation are involved.

Cognitive dissonance can manifest itself in the fact that a person begins to repent or doubt the decision made. This may happen over time. The action has already been taken. The result is achieved, but it does not satisfy the desires of the person himself. And over time, he begins to repent, to feel remorse, subsequently making other decisions in similar situations.

Examples of cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance happens to many people and there are many situations. Examples might be:

1. Receipt of an excellent student and a double student. Since a certain behavior is required from each student (an excellent student must study well, and a poor student must study poorly), cognitive dissonance sets in when an excellent student begins to study for twos, and a loser - for fives.
2. Bad habits. Sooner or later, everyone begins to understand that habits are harmful to health. And here a person faces a choice: to continue to harm himself or get rid of the habit.
3. Should you give charity? If you see a homeless person on the street, then you are faced with a choice: to give or not to give? It all depends on your inner convictions and social principles.
4. Striving to lose weight. On the one hand, the girl wants to lose weight. However, on the other hand, she may experience a strong desire to eat something tasty.

Since cognitive dissonance has occurred and will occur in the life of any person, various ways to avoid it are proposed:

• Humility with the situation, that is, begin to treat it as acceptable.
• A positive attitude is to see the positive aspects in the situation.
• Avoiding information that contradicts your views and experience.

Outcome

A person lives in a diverse world that cannot be explained only from one side. To avoid cognitive dissonance, you need to learn to see all the diversity and understand that in situations you can act badly, and selfishly, and wrongly, which is also normal if it gives positive results.