Cognitive Dissonance: Our Collective Disease

Whether we know it or not, much of the world is in a state of persistent cognitive dissonance. This is very apparent to anyone that attempts to get a broader perspective of western society.

The definition of cognitive dissonance is:

the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change.

Our views and philosophy tend to be inconsistent. Most people consider themselves to be peace loving, but often these same people justify their support of war and violence of all kinds.

We know that our schools aren't teaching our children to critically think, and actually have the effect of reducing individual and creative thought, yet most people still send their children to these same institutions. And even though we know most public/private schools are utterly failing our children, we still sign them up for their indoctrination year after year, perhaps because we don't see another way.

Year after year, we see our elected leaders fail to live up to even a fraction of what was promised during the campaign, yet each election season we wait with baited breath to see who will become our 'leader', because maybe this year it will be different with candidate X.

We find ways to cover over our disharmony, either by lying to ourselves, remaining ignorant, or living with the dissonance that is in front of us.

Leon Festinger came up with Cognitive Dissonance theory, which states that:

Humans are sensitive to inconsistencies between actions and beliefs. Recognition of this inconsistency will cause dissonance, and will motivate an individual to resolve the dissonance. According to Festinger, humans have an innate desire to resolve this dissonance, as it can create a great deal of tension in a person's life.

Dissonance will be resolved in one of three basic ways:

1. Change beliefs
2. Change actions
3. Change perception of action

If a person believes they have strong will power but realizes they may have a drinking problem, a bit of cognitive dissonance will occur. According to this theory, a person can either change their belief about their will power being less strong than they thought, they can change their action by addressing their drinking problem, or they can change their perception of action by writing off their drinking problem as not being a big deal.

In relation to greater, underlying societal issues, resolving this dissonance isn't as easy. A great deal of the inconsistencies in our world are masked by compartmentalization. We know that a part of our government uses our tax money to help the less fortunate in our country, and as a result many of us are fine with paying taxes. But we also know that an even larger part of our government uses an even larger percentage of our tax money to kill less fortunate people all over the world. But hey, that's the cost of the 'greater good', right?

Many of us hate how large corporations operate to control and dictate society, yet we are perfectly fine investing our 401k in the same companies we so vehemently claim to oppose. How many anti-war protesters actually have their money locked up in Halliburton, Raytheon, and the rest of the military industrial complex?

Individuals are becoming more aware of these cultural inconsistencies, and are divesting themselves from 'the system' in ways that align their actions more closely with their beliefs.

Things such as Bitcoin and other Altcoins have the potential to reduce dissonance with people who are sick of the currency cartels. I believe this is also why more people are seeing the value in becoming more self-sufficient in terms of food and energy production. True independence and freedom means not needing to use corrupt systems of finance, agriculture, and energy.

I personally see the value in reducing dissonance at all costs in my life. I bank with a credit union instead of a larger wall-st firm. I try to grow more of my own food each year, as well as support local producers of many goods and services. I avoid products from companies I disagree with as much as possible. I have recently taken an interest in cryptocurrencies, and firmly believe they have the potential to yield a more free society, one that is aligned with the values it actually believes in.

Reducing dissonance is not easy. It requires a constant level of conscious action, often requiring us to make choices that are difficult and uncomfortable. But that discomfort ultimately leads to a greater level of consonance within ourselves. The definition of consonance is:

agreement or compatibility between opinions or actions.

I'm making that my lifelong goal, as much as possible. If we all work to reduce dissonance, the world will start to become more coherent, more in harmony with itself, and ultimately, more sane.