Cognitive Dissonance

[ygolo]

Do you think Stephen Colbert is slowly turning into the fake character he is playing?

----
Do you think that negative self-image is the resolution of negative self-talk that started as a "preemptive" measure of a child to avoid parental or authority figure disapproval?

Perhaps faked at the beginning, showing:

"Look, I know I'm being bad/pathetic/whatever. No need to scold me."

Then slowly morphing into a belief about oneself.
----

Is positive self-talk the opposite of that?

----

Are we continually "brainwashing" ourselves through selective cognitive dissonance?

----
Need more sleep.

 

[matmos]

I read something a while back that you get better results asking someone to do you a favour, rather than doing them one. If you are ambivalent towards someone the dissonence created can only be rid of by either a) Refusing to do the favour (seen as rude or petty) or b) Convince yourself they're okay and modify behaviour accordingly.

I went to a - mandatory - equal ops and diversity course. At the end everyone was asked to prepare a 1 minute speach arguing for "more diversity". Not that I disagreed, but the course was using cognitive dissonance to achieve a result - a sneeky trick! Just like asking for a favour! But useless if you know what they're up to.

 

[redacted]

Do you think that negative self-image is the resolution of negative self-talk that started as a "preemptive" measure of a child to avoid parental or authority figure disapproval?

Perhaps faked at the beginning, showing:

"Look, I know I'm being bad/pathetic/whatever. No need to scold me."

Then slowly morphing into a belief about oneself.

i totally think so. this was pretty much my story until i was about 17.

Is positive self-talk the opposite of that?

sort of, except it's more conscious.

Are we continually "brainwashing" ourselves through selective cognitive dissonance?

hell yeah!

you gotta integrate the theory into your view of yourself. at least that way, you're constantly assessing your motivations for changing your beliefs.

 

[nozflubber]

cognitive dissonance is a very powerful, mostly-unexamined X factor in psychology, and it's mind boggling nature makes it unclear how much it influences human behavior. Like many psych terms, it's made its way into pop culture long before we even have much idea under what conditions cog. diss. manifests

 

[suzyk]

If you think about it, it does work (for some people). You could always tell yourself you are smart, beautiful and popular, and that could mean that you'd turn into an obnoxious and self-criticizing, vain person. If you tell yourself that you are a failure, and you fail at everything, then you won't make an effort to do anything good for yourself. Because it takes an effort to do something like make friends and socialize, and it's easier to find problems/criticize yourself.

 

[Apollonian]

From what I gather, it isn't "cognitive dissonance" which causes brainwashing but the other way around. Cognitive dissonance is a term to describe the effect that inaccurate self-image has on one's thoughts and behavior.

One interesting question is: can one be brainwashed without cognitive dissonance? I think that if someone is 'brainwashed' and then successfully transitions into thoughts and behavior consistent with the brainwashing, then there is no cognitive dissonance.

I think, rather, that what the OP may be referring to is Self Fulfilling Prophecy and not Cognitive Dissonance. Or, we are at least talking about how the two are related.

It seems like Cognitive Dissonance results when a self-fulfilling prophecy doesn't fulfill itself very well and the person is left thinking that the prophecy is true when it is otherwise not (based on the reality of their behavior rather than their thought about that behavior).

As for Colbert, he's a screwball. I prefer more genuine characters (Stewart).

 

[ygolo]

Admitedly, I used the word "brainwashing" as hyperbole.
Nevertheless, here is food for thought.

I think cognative dissonance happens more often than we care to admit.

I was thinking about self fullfiling prophecies but only in a broader context, which included congnitive dissonance.