Scientific Definition
Mental discomfort from holding conflicting beliefs or values.
Plain-English Definition
Mental discomfort from holding conflicting beliefs or values.
Feynman Explanation
We will change our minds, or we will change the facts. Usually the facts.
Core Principle
Mental discomfort from holding conflicting beliefs or values.
Mechanisms
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Mental discomfort from holding conflicting beliefs or values.
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Leaders rationalize bad decisions rather than admit error.
Inputs (Triggers)
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Outputs (Behaviors)
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Behavioral Signature
We will change our minds, or we will change the facts. Usually the facts.
Examples
- A smoker dismisses health data to reduce dissonance.
- Leaders rationalize bad decisions rather than admit error.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
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Design Principles
- Create safe ways to update beliefs without losing face.
Measurement Approaches
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Evidence
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The Perverse Incentive Lens™
How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.
- Create safe ways to update beliefs without losing face.
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Interactive Mini Network
Click any neighbor to re-center the graph and follow the threads of connection.
Knowledge Graph Neighbors
Auto-linked to the rest of the Human Behavior Taxonomy by family, domain, dimension, and shared keywords.
Accurately modeling what another person is thinking and feeling — without merging with it.
A group decides on a course of action that nobody actually wants, because everyone assumes others prefer it.
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
We attribute our own actions to situations but others' actions to their character.
We favor people who are similar to us or who like us.
Sacrificing for others without expecting a personal reward.
Masking the sponsors of a message to make it appear grassroots.
Disagreement grows more extreme as the parties think more about the issue.
Systematic errors in explaining the causes of behavior — yours or others'.
We accept vague, general statements as personally meaningful.
Adding the word 'because' (with any reason) increases compliance dramatically.
Behaviors spread through groups via observation and imitation.