This eventually leads her to challenge her self concepts to extreme levels, causing her to either liberate herself from the façade she created or sink into the role. Easy A describes many genuine psychological phenomena and I am going to focus on three of them; Cognitive dissonance theory, how societal and cultural norms dictate our attitudes and thoughts, and different ways of persuasion. The cognitive dissonance theory is the feeling of unease that is felt when we act in opposition to our attitudes, which causes a shift of attitude in order to be consistent with our behavior. Easy A depicts strongly the theory of cognitive dissonance on numerous occasions.
People’s memories are greatly affected by preconceptions and the emotions that come with them. When one’s memories are challenged the response is that they must be right, and everyone else must be wrong. Dr. Neil Degrasse Tyson shows this example when during his show “Cosmos” where he inaccurately uses a quote from two different speeches of President George Bush’s to express a science of how stars were named. The quote was implying prejudice tendencies in Mr. Bush right after 9/11, and when Dr. Tyson was confronted of his misinterpretation his overconfidence of his memories he instantly configured that the confronters were incorrect. After evidence proved of his misconception, he admitted to his mistake and publicly apologized.
The author states that the one of the many flaws in a democracy is the fact that people have the right to vote without having knowledge on the subject. He understands that people make decisions based off their morals, not on the knowledge they have on a subject. Keohane adds that as a self-defense mechanism people, when they are faced with a mental conflict that occurs where their beliefs or assumptions are contradicted by new information; this is called cognitive dissonance. He goes on to explain the theory of motivated reasoning, which is where people have two facts presented to them where one fact contradicts their principals, and they end up choosing the fact that is closest to their ideals. According to Keohane people with higher self-esteem are more likely to acknowledge new information than people with insecurities.
Though not entirely rational, confirmation bias is how beliefs are made
In everyday actions and decisions, human nature dictates that ignorance is very common. Barbara Tuchman’s theory of “wooden-headedness”, can be applied to real life on many different levels. Wooden headedness consists of assessing a situation in terms of preconceived fixed notions while ignoring or rejecting any contrary signs. This is when a person acts according to a wish while not allowing oneself to be deflected by the facts. Ignorance plays a substantial role in human affairs, although some may think it is just how kids are raised by their parents.
Greg and Rowley made a haunted house for little kids and said that it only cost 50¢ to go in. A lot of kids showed up, and Greg realized that if he charged them $2 each, he could make a lot of money. He decided to lie to them and say, “Now, I know that the flyers said admission was 50¢, but I could see we had a chance to make a killing here. So I told the kids that admission was $2, and the 50¢ was just a typo" (Kinney 56). The little kids didn’t know any better and some of them gave him the $2.
Thesis statement: Lying can be justified when it creates more
In “Do Cognitive Interview Instructions Contribute To False Beliefs And Memories?”, the two authors, Stefanie J. Sharman and Martine B. Powell discuss about a research study that took place over a span of fifteen years. The purpose of this study was to see if exposing people to cognitive interview could create false beliefs and/or false memories. In this study, the participants participated in 3 sessions receiving different instruction pertaining to how they will receive information. In the first session, they were asked to make four ratings out of ten childhood events, followed with the rating of how probable the even was for the overall person in general and a rating of their confidence about that experience they had before the age of 10;
Furthermore, telling the truth all the time has serious consequences. She postulates that lying, though a form of hedging, must have some merit. She cites a broad definition of a lie from Webster’s dictionary, and asserts that this definition includes many types of lying. She narrows in on a specific type of lie in the next section of the essay: the white lie.
When and why should people change their minds? People change their minds when something is said by someone popular or proved to be true by others. In the “Investigations 2” packet from Big History Project, the eight documents portrays this. Their minds change due to rethinking conventional ideas, new technology opening a path to difference, and collective learning. Document 1 talks about Ptolemy’s theory of the geocentric theory.
Cognitive dissonance is by definition the ¨state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs or attitudes (McLeod, Simply Psychology) which produces feelings of discomfort.” In order to dispel those feelings the brain leads a person to alter the thoughts, beliefs or attitudes that are in disagreement with the rest, restoring the brain to harmony. When we humans have a thought or commit an atrocity that goes against our morals or long standing beliefs we either apologize or justify the action, telling ourselves that the person we hurt deserved it and brought it upon themselves. We continue to search for justification until we no longer view ourselves as in the wrong. This mental capability has, in my opinion, been the leading agent in nationś wars and oppression against others.
Something potentially responsible for this phenomenon is the Backfire Effect. David McRaney describes the Backfire Effect with great accuracy in his article “The Backfire Effect”: “coming or going, you stick to your beliefs instead of questioning them. When someone tries to correct you, tries to dilute your misconceptions, it backfires and strengthens them instead” (1). This unbreakable resolve for maintaining beliefs in contradiction to logic prevents us from seeing truth effectively. However, what drives the Backfire Effect?
Derek also provides an example of Hypothesis 2: Post decision dissonance creates a need for reassurance. Festinger defines post decision dissonance as “ strong doubts experienced after making an important decision” (Griffin, et al). Derek experiences strong post decision dissonance after leaving the Aryan Brotherhood. When he leaves one of the members tells him that he will be punished. This causes dissonance within Derek, he wonders if he made the right decision, and he feels regret almost.
Cognitive dissonance is the sense of mental disorganization or imbalance that may prompt a person to change when new information conflicts with previously organized thought patterns. The text states, “The incompatibly between your behavior and your new knowledge will make you feel uncomfortable” (381). I have experienced cognitive dissonance when preparing for an exam. For instance, I will not study or not study as well as I should for a test. Then when I receive my test back or my score is posted, I realize that I really should have studied a lot harder.
On being wrong Today we watch a video from Ted talk "on being wrong"and why people think that being wrong is bad for them and the reason why we think being wrong is bad for us. There was a time when I was playing in a basketball game and it was a close game and it was a big game win or go home so we needed to win this game. The time was 3 minutes left in the game and my team was up by 2 points from a layup that I made then we got back on defense of end and we were playing great defense the other team had no answer so then one of my teammates got the ball off of ground and I was on the opposite side of him and in front of him but there was no one in head of me so my teammate pass me the ball
