ABSTRACT
The arousal state of cognitive dissonance is based on our need to see the world as secure and sensible. When inconsistency is experienced, the world becomes less predictable, our actions become less comprehensible and our emotions respond with the unpleasant state of dissonance. Seeking certainty through cognitive consonance helps to reduce our sense of insecurity. We develop ways to reduce dissonance in order to restore confidence that we can understand and control our environment. Sometimes, the search for dissonance reduction can lead to suboptimal beliefs, such as the thought that the U.S. election in 2020 was stolen from Donald Trump or that COVID-19 vaccines are conspiracies of the government to invade people’s minds and bodies. At other times and in other situations, dissonance reduction strategies can leverage more positive social attitudes, such as creating support for COVID-19 vaccines, as we have recently reported in our research. In this chapter, We will examine the broad arc that links insecurity to dissonance and discuss empirical research in support of that link.
