Cognitive Dissonance

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Leon Festinger, an American social psychologist, proposed the theory that when a person has inconsistent attitude, belief or behavior this is known as Cognitive Dissonance. During Cognitive Dissonance a person may seeks to reduce discomfort or restore/maintain balance. In order to achieve this they must change one or the other. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways including; change the belief or attitude, change in behavior or reduce the importance of their thoughts (Latrell, 2016). In other words coming to an agreement with themselves that will lead to consonance. 

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Cognitive Dissonance is an instructional model that is based on the Constructivist Learning theory. As stated by Harasim (2012), "Constructivist theory posits that people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world through experiencing the world, and reflecting on those experiences" (p. 60). A state of Disosonance happens when a person has conflicting attitude or beliefs that they aquired from experience or research, but their actions do not align. 

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An example of Cognitive Dissonance, is one that many students struggle with, which is reading practice. They may have been taught or learned from experience that if they do not practice reading/reading skills they will continue to struggle with reading. Reading comprehension is a primary skill taught in elementary school. They begin with phonics and fluency, but eventually that leads to comprehension skills that are essential in their progress through High School and even college education. Most struggling readers do not practice daily reading (action), they need to improve their reading skills that they will need for the rest of their lives (belief). Some students may be forced to change their action, by a parent or a teacher that forces them to practice. While other students may chose to change their attitude or belief, which can be done by telling themselves that reading is not important or that reading is important therefore they make an effort to practice. Alternatively, students can change their perspective of reading practice, this can be in several forms; A teacher can motivate students to read by offering prizes to those who practice or students can find books that are interesting, which will make the reading more engaging. 

An advantage of using the Cognitive Dissonance instructional model is that students can take responsibility for their learning and make decisions in their education, while the teacher facilitates, engages and motivates, without directly imposing. A disadvantage of using the Cognitive Dissonance, at least for younger students, is that they may not have the experiences they need to make decisions or changes in attitude, beliefs or actions. 

Related Links:

Cognitive Dissonance: A Crash Course (video)

Simply Psychology-Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance (video)

Reference:

Harasim, L. (2012). Learning Theory and Online Technologies. New York, NY: Routledge.

Latrell, A. (2016, February 2). Cognitive Dissonance: A Crash Course [Web log post]. Retrieved October 9, 2016 from http://socialpsychonline.com/2016/02/cognitive-dissonance/