I've been watching this reality TV program called "Catfish". It deals with people who have had a rough deal with internet dating e.g fake profile, money scams etc. Any way there was one episode that really stuck out to me that made me realized the power of cognitive dissonance in dealing with JWs. Basically this women had tricked this guy into believing he was talking to Katy Perry. This had gone on for about 5 years and got to the point where the guy had got his grandmother's engagement ring and had it diamond studded as he was going to propose. They tracked the women down in England, who was also a Lesbian. Even in light of the evidence when he confronted her and she point blank admitted to him she had been leading him on for the last 5 years. He still couldn't accept he had been tricked and put it all down to a conspiracy theory. For something that everyone else could see this guy was just totally oblivious. I just could help but realize for all the hall marks of a scam, that the guy had kept at it for 5 years. Now we can perhaps understand the power of cognitive dissonance when talking to our JW loved ones.
The power of cognitive dissonance
by joe134cd 8 Replies latest jw experiences
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Pete Zahut
Yep, we sometimes project our own good intentions, hopes and dreams onto others and our brain fills the missing pieces with what we want to see or believe.
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smiddy
We tend to believe what we want to believe in spite of the facts.
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Rainbow_Troll
I once read a sociological study When Prophecy Fails about a UFO cult in the midwest. The cult leader repeatedly made false prophecies: first that there was going to be a catastrophic flood, and later that an alien spacecraft would appear to beam up the cultists. No matter how many times the spaceship failed to show, the cult members never lost faith. In fact, each failure seemed only to strengthen their conviction that this nutty housewife was in contact with advanced extraterrestrials. These people simply had too much invested, in terms of both time or raw emotion, to renounce their false beliefs. It reminded me of the way some investors will refuse to let go of a sinking stock.
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scratchme1010
He still couldn't accept he had been tricked and put it all down to a conspiracy theory. For something that everyone else could see this guy was just totally oblivious. I just could help but realize for all the hall marks of a scam, that the guy had kept at it for 5 years. Now we can perhaps understand the power of cognitive dissonance when talking to our JW loved ones.
Accepting a painful reality that they have been fooled it's too painful for some. Interesting.
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David_Jay
I think you mean to say "The Power of DENIAL."
"Cognitive dissonance" is when a person experiences disharmony, often resulting in anxiety, when they are confronted with evidence that does not match up with their personal view on a matter.
In order to end the disharmony, the person must then choose to accept the new evidence while enduring the limited sting of being wrong or they go into denial and refuse to accept the truth. Once the person does either, accept the truth or go into denial, the disharmony -- the cognitive dissonance -- ends.
What you are describing is a case of denial, not cognitive dissonance. I notice a lot of people are getting these two things mixed up.
People who go into denial may not always experience cognitive dissonance either. Cognitive dissonance requires a subject to consider and go over evidence. Many people immediately allow a skeptical emotional reaction (in contrast to an intellectual response) to take over by which they immediately dismiss the presentation of evidence, therefore never experiencing disharmony, and thus they jump straight into denial. Many JWs are like this, avoiding real evidence like one avoids a rain puddle on the street, thereby never having to expose themselves to disharmony.
Cognitve dissonance can be a very good thing too. The character Harry Potter always has a moment with cognitive dissonance in each novel or film. Harry believes something for three-quarters of each story, then gets confronted with evidence that emotionally shakes him, followed by acceptance of the real situation at hand and his resolution. That moment when Harry realizes things are not what they seem is "cognitive dissonance." It always causes Harry to acquiesce, admit he was wrong, and save the day.
The actions taken by a subject after being exposed to new evidence, whether it is acquiescence or denial, is also not cognitive dissonance. Again, too many people keep confusing the act of denial with the term "cognitive dissonance," but they are not the same things. (There is also great misuse of the term "critical thinking" on this forum as well, but that's an entirely different subject altogether.)
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GrreatTeacher
You can ignore a lot of red flags when you really want to believe that something is true.
When you're wearing rose-colored glasses, red flags just look like flags.
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Old Navy
This is a really big one! Has anyone isolated the "hooks" among the lies propagated by the Watchtower which makes the process of cultivating strong allegiance so effective? For me it was the belief that the organization really was God's "chosen people" because everything, at first, seemed so clean and scriptural. It took several decades to finally recognize the depth of the deceptions.
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Old Navy
From David_Jay:
I think you mean to say "The Power of DENIAL."
Hmmm. It does seem that denial and cognitive dissonance operate simultaneously.