Cognitive dissonance Essay

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1. Some psychologists suggest you can reduce cognitive dissonance by restoring positive self-evaluations that are threatened by the dissonance. Elliot and Devine (1994) refer to this as self-affirmation. Give an example of a time in your life when you reduced an unpleasant internal state in some self-affirming way.
2. In what ways does the author of "Decoding the New MTV-Speak" poke fun at advertisers and advertising? Why does the author question the audience and the purpose of advertising? Distinguish between the central (systematic processing) and the peripheral (heuristic processing) routes for processing persuasive messages and explain when we engage in each of these two distinct modes of thought.

Cognitive Dissonance “It is the subject of a new theory based on experiments showing that the grass is usually not greener on the other side of the fence and that grapes are sourest when they are in easy reach.” Leon Festinger 1). Leon Festinger developed Cognitive Dissonance theory more than fifty years ago. It is a state of psychological tension that is aroused when a person simultaneously holds two thoughts that contradict one another. Dissonance is a threat to the self. When dissonance is aroused, people can deal with it directly or by affirming the self in an unrelated domain. Distress in behaviors will allow a person to react irrationally and at times follow their impulses as opposed to logic and rational. A conflict in behavior because people want to see themselves positively is a state of mind I experienced often as a panelist on Foxnews.comlive, "GodTalk" and "Spirited Debate."
One show in particular stands out more so than any other show I’ve ever done with Fox where I experienced dissonance in a major way. The show was “ What’s Obama Stance on Gay marriage”? The producers had sent over the topic the night before as they always do. I knew my stance on gay marriage and was not ready to discuss my position on air. To reduce the unpleasant internal state in a self-affirming way I tried everything I possibly could to not go into the direction of me having to deal with it with selective exposure as well as selective avoidance, “The tendency to direct our attention away from information that challenges our existing attitudes” (Baron & Branscombe, 2013 p.166). Restoring positive self-evaluation that was threatened by the dissonance in that situation resulted the producer to pair me up with the guest on several occasion because they loved the dissonance 2) The author of “Decoding the New MTV-Speak” poke fun at advertisers and advertising by arguing that it is less about the product than it is about the idea behind the product. She argues that what influences consumers' sense of identity is that the advertisers carefully construct advertising. She suggests, Americans are bombarded by powerful images that always represent some product, consumers form associations between brands and personality. "We don't buy the products, we buy the world that presents them" (Leslie Savan). 2a). Why does the author question the audience and the purpose of advertising?
Savan blasts the myth that viewers can be protected to ads if they so choose, exploring how advertisers attack viewers on a subconscious level, in areas where they are most helpless. The key danger of ads, according to Savan, is that they misinform consumers not only about the quality of the product, but also about how the world works. Ads twist consumers' sense of logic, implying that success, personality, and solutions to problems can
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