Cognitive Dissonance
- “the discomfort of doing something against my values”
- “why do people justify things they know are wrong”
- “what is cognitive dissonance in simple terms”
- “holding two beliefs that contradict”
01 · Side by side
Side by side
Comparison sheet
| Aspect | Cognitive dissonance | Rationalization |
|---|---|---|
| Is | A state of mental discomfort | A justification, often after the fact |
| Role | The pressure | One way of releasing it |
| Sounds like | 'Something about this doesn't sit right' | 'It was reduced, so I actually saved' |
| Term from | Leon Festinger's theory, 1957 | Psychoanalysis: introduced by Ernest Jones, 1908 |
02 · Which one you meant
Which one did you mean?
In shortReaders who land here meaning Cognitive Dissonance rather than Rationalization are usually searching for phrases like “the discomfort of doing something against my values”, “why do people justify things they know are wrong”, “what is cognitive dissonance in simple terms”.
Ratio
- “what does ratio mean on twitter”
- “what does getting ratioed mean”
- “l + ratio meaning”
- “the word for when a reply gets more likes than the post”
03 · Which came first
Which came first
In shortCognitive dissonance. 1957 — Leon Festinger publishes A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, arguing that conflicting beliefs create discomfort that drives people to restore consistency.
- 1957
Cognitive Dissonance. Leon Festinger publishes A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, arguing that conflicting beliefs create discomfort that drives people to restore consistency.
- 29 January 2019
Ratio. Wiktionary's earliest citation: CNN quotes a protester telling former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz to "go back to getting ratioed on Twitter".
04 · Read either one
Read either one in full
05 · Tell these apart too