Social Physiology and Cognitive Dissonance Paper Example

Cognitive dissonance is psychological distress experienced by an individual who at the same time holds on to two or more conflicting values, beliefs or ideas. When the individual's belief conflicts with new suggestion perceived by an individual then discomfort is created. When the person is faced with confrontation that contradicts with personal values beliefs and ideals. As a result of experiencing cognitive dissonance, he/ she will try to minimize or reduce. To minimize the dissonance between what one believes in and what is needed to be done, one will have to change their values and beliefs, change action, or change what perceived (Morvan and Alexander). The purpose of reminding Bob that he missed basketball game previous week is to put him in cognitive dissonance state. Being turned down by the girl he liked so much had brought mental attitude. He missed basketball game and it's not according to his beliefs but he still loves the basketball game. Bob is in the conflicting situation because if he attends basketball game he will miss hockey game at the same time he missed basketball previous week.

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When one realizes that their activities violate an essential attitude, it leads to the inconsistency that finally produces the unpleasant state of arousal known as dissonance this encourages people to change their original attitude. Taking of coffee will reduce dissonance arousal. Coffee contains caffeine which is a stimulant. More drinking of coffee will finally reduce dissonance arousal because coffee is used to reduce the altitude caused by conflict on what Bob believe in and what he is supposed to do. Social influence makes one reduce the discomfort felt when there is cognitive dissonance. To reduce that pressure Bob will have to make the decision either to play in the hockey team or basketball team. To make the right decision he will have to change the action and lessen the position of his attitude and beliefs.

Many people change their behavior and altitude to match other people's behavior and attitude of people within the same environment. The primary purpose of conformity is the concern on how people will think of you (Xie 51). Many people end up dropping their personality and also their character just to please others while obedience is when one changes their behavior just to comply with the need of the authority figure. Example include

Conclusion

Many organization has a different code of dressing. These codes of dressing include suits for both men and women. For example, KFC company employees wear the uniform. When one is employed in such a company one has to comply with the rules of the company. As much as you're complying at the same time you're obeying rules and regulations set by the company. Also in the world today there is the genre of music that is more popular that is rap music. It has gained the interest of many youths in the past few years and many people are afraid of adapting other genres of music because they don't know how people will think of them. Normative social influence had a significant role because most of the people who listen to rap music are the youth. One has to follow the trend because of peer pressure and also they are doing that so that they can be accepted in society and also avoid being ridiculed by others. To avoid these youths should always stand according to their own beliefs and principles. They should always avoid peer pressure and avoid complying with other people behaviors just to please them or fit in a particular group.

Works cited

Morvan, Camille, and Alexander O'Connor. A theory of cognitive dissonance. Macat Library, 2017.

Xie, Ying, et al. "Neural basis of two kinds of social influence: obedience and conformity." Frontiers in human neuroscience10 (2016): 51.

https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-examples-of-over-conformity