Cognitive dissonance is a psychological term that describes the discomfort you feel when your beliefs don’t line up with your actions. Or it could refer to the tension of holding two conflicting ...

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 ...

Jocelyn Solis-Moreira is a New York-based science journalist whose work has appeared in Health, Live Science, and Discover Magazine, among other publications. She holds a master's degree in psychology ...

Elicitation is a technique to obtain sensitive information without asking direct questions. Direct questions trigger defensive responses to protect information people would prefer to remain unsaid.

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 ...

Do you have a case of cognitive dissonance? Cognitive what? You may wonder why we’re asking if you have a case of cognitive dissonance. We’re asking because it’s common and uncomfortable. It’s a term ...

The 2020s will be a decade of cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is the conflict between what one thinks reality is and what it actually is. Here is Webster's definition: psychological ...

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In 1934, an 8.0-magnitude earthquake hit eastern India, killing thousands and devastating several cities. Curiously, in areas that were spared the worst destruction, stories soon spread that an even ...

When “Barbie,” the movie, was released, I was convinced that I did not need to watch a film about dolls. It wasn’t until a colleague said that the film tackled the complexity of cognitive dissonance ...

Do you ever feel a nagging sense of discomfort when your actions don't match your beliefs? For example, you might tell a small white lie even though you value honesty. That uneasy feeling is known as ...