When you realize that one of your cognitions is dissonant with another cognition.
Example: File wrong taxes, justified by saying we paid more last year, or govt sucks anyways.
Problem : We don't learn because the dissonance is resolved by flase justifications.
Solution : Increased awareness. Surround myself with people who dont agree with me. Listen to criticism.
Since I am reading Macbeth today, I quote Shakespeare " Give everyman thy ear, but few thy voice. Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgement".
Listen to Elliot Aronson interview on Talk of the Nation
"The engine that drives self-justification, the energy that produces the need to justify our actions and decisions — especially the wrong ones — is an unpleasant feeling that Festinger called "cognitive dissonance." Cognitive dissonance is a state of tension that occurs whenever a person holds two cognitions (ideas, attitudes, beliefs, opinions) that are psychologically inconsistent, such as "Smoking is a dumb thing to do because it could kill me" and "I smoke two packs a day." Dissonance produces mental discomfort, ranging from minor pangs to deep anguish; people don't rest easy until they find a way to reduce it. In this example, the most direct way for a smoker to reduce dissonance is by quitting. But if she has tried to quit and failed, now she must reduce dissonance by convincing herself that smoking isn't really so harmful, or that smoking is worth the risk because it helps her relax or prevents her from gaining weight (and after all, obesity is a health risk, too), and so on. Most smokers manage to reduce dissonance in many such ingenious, if self-deluding, ways."
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