Final Project - Research Paper Example

Cognitive Dissonance and Behavior Cognitive dissonance refers to the uncomfortable feeling that people have when they have conflicting cognitions and they must make some type of decision. An example of this may be when someone knows that they should not smoke because it is not good for them, and then continues to smoke. They continue to have an inner conflict of what to do in the situation. Most people will experience cognitive dissonance in some part of their lives on a regular basis. Generally this is became as humans, people go throughout conflicts in their cognition on a regular basis.

I will address the area of cognitive dissonance as it applies to human behavior and how people can work with it to create a better understanding of themselves. I will also look into the areas of self-esteem and how this plays a role in working with people. When there is an understanding of oneself one can apply the information to working with others. The paper will define cognitive dissonance, give examples of how it is used and provide examples of how people can improve their use of cognitive dissonance to change their lives.

Many studies have shown how cognitive dissonance works with consumer behavior and I also think this is a very important aspect for my paper. We are always selling something whether it is a product or a service and we must understand behavior in order to make sales. If we look at how to lesson cognitive dissonance in selling, we are able to find ways to work more effectively with people in any situation.Annotated BibliographyAwa, H. O., & Nwuche, C. A. (2010). Cognitive consistency in purchase behaviour: Theoretical & empirical analyses.

International Journal Of Psychological Studies, 2(1), 44-54. This article gives specific information on the major cognitive consistency models. The authors state that cognitive consistency is about making sure that our cognitive processes are similar for each situation we encounter. The authors state that human beings do not like change but value consistency in their activities. When there is change, there is a discrepancy in their cognition. This article is central to explaining the theories that are relevant to my topic.Cherry, K. (2011).

What is cognitive dissonance? About.com. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/f/dissonance.htmThis article gives an explanation of cognitive dissonance and how it is used in different situations. The author gives supporting information about how people can reduce cognitive dissonance and why it is important. This article will support the beginning of my research in that it provides a quick understanding of what it is and what it does. Matthey, A., & Regner, T. (2011).

Do i really want to know? A Cognitive Dissonance-Based explanation of other-regarding behavior. Games (20734336), 2(1), 114-135. doi:10.3390/g2010114There are a variety of issues when examining cognitive dissonance and these authors have applied the information to gaming but they show how people come to understand the way that other people think when they are interacting socially. This article created a foundation for observing behavior in various social situations. This article is important to my understanding of the various factors that can be involved in cognitive dissonance.

I also see this as important to showing how behavior is created by what we perceive to be true rather than what can be seen as actually true.Oshikawa, S. (1969). Can cognitive dissonance theory explain consumer behavior?. Journal Of Marketing, 33(4), 44-49.This article is another good example of behavior and how people react in certain situations. The author provides information about how cognitive dissonance has been used in marketing and sales to examine consumer behavior. The author suggests that there is a way to lower the incidences of cognitive dissonance in order to increase consumer buyer behavior.

Since my topic is about behavior and cognitive dissonance theory this article is very enriching and important to my topic. This will present a foundation for discussion behavior in a different way than the Matthey and Regnar article.Pugh, S., Groth, M., & Hennig-Thurau, T. (2011). Willing and able to fake emotions: A closer examination of the link between emotional dissonance and employee well-being. Journal Of Applied Psychology, 96(2), 377-390. doi:10.1037/a0021395The authors provide an interesting look at cognitive dissonance as it applies to employees in the workplace.

Their premise is that employees have a choice to show complete emotions in the workplace or to only produce the ones they think are “appropriate” in the situation. The authors found that employees understand that there needs to be a combination of feelings shown in the workplace. This article is important to my topic because it gives another side of how cognitive dissonance is used. My topic will consider the various areas where cognitive dissonance has bene used an this is another area toward understanding.