I feel a bit of dissonance over writing this post. My newly edited book on dissonance, Cognitive Dissonance: Re-examining a Pivotal Theory in Psychology, is an update of the book Jud Mills and I ...

This is the lived reality of millions of people in highly controlling religions, cults, and coercive situations worldwide. Individuals in such situations are physically free to leave and yet feel ...

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Cognitive dissonance is what happens when a person holds two sets of beliefs at odds with each other. The human brain doesn’t like logical inconsistencies, so someone experiencing cognitive dissonance ...

After Mass on Sunday, our priest took a moment to relay a message from our bishop regarding the upcoming off-year elections here in Virginia. The Church, of course, goes to great lengths to avoid ...

MOST OF US have experienced conflicting beliefs at one time or another. For instance, you know that drinking too much alcohol is bad for your health, but you pour yourself a second glass of wine ...

The holidays can be joyful, but social pressures, clashing cultural and family traditions, overeating and overspending invariably also leave many of us with a “cognitive dissonance hangover” once all ...

If nations can suffer from cognitive dissonance just as individuals can, it’s easy to see why we elected Donald Trump. A good place to start thinking about this is football: As I often do in late ...

Football and I go way back. I played the game for 10 years, up through high school when I started at guard for a district champion. Those years were a major formative influence on my life, building ...

It increasingly appears to be the case that some MAGA Republicans desire to replace American democracy with autocracy. President Joe Biden’s “Soul of America” speech forcefully called them out. Those ...