A few things I’ve learned in my neophyte plight to understanding minds.
Cognitive dissonance (oooh, new big words) is the psychological discomfort you feel when battle royal is going down in your mind between conflicting thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes. We’ve all been in these kinds of situations before.
But don’t take my word for it. Just ask Kevin. He’s a platypus with a problem. He has a hard time making decisions, much like you and I do at times. Except that you and I are definitely not amphibious mammals. As far as I know.
One day, Kevin was letting his friend - a little girl whose name escapes me at the moment - use him as a playground. They were having a grand old time, when a random thought army crawled into his mind, causing him to implore what would happen if he decided to eat the little girl. He then proceeded through the six methods of maintaining consistency.
1. Denial: “This little girl probably won’t mind if I eat her. We are friends, after all.”
2. Bolstering: “Sooner or later, someone else will probably come along and eat her anyway.”
3. Differentiation: “It’s not like I’m eating an endangered species. There are plenty of little girls out there in the wild, running around free, like squirrels.”
4. Transcendence: “No one is perfect. We all give in to temptation at one point or another.”
5. Modifying one or both attitudes: “I should be more considerate. This little girl probably wasn’t planning on being eaten today.”
6. Communicating: “I’ll just have to convince everyone I’m not a psycho killer platypus when they find out.”
Despite the internal battle, Kevin finally determined that eating the little girl would not really be in anyone’s best interest, and he and the little girl remained friends for a long time.
Good choice, Kevin.
BY: Ariana Matty
Source used:
Gass, Robert H, and John S Seiter. Persuation: Social Influence and Compliance Gaining. 4 ed. Pearson, 2011. Print.
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