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Cognitive dissonance is an unpleasant state that occurs when we notice that our attitudes and our behavior are inconsistent (Branscombe & Baron, 2017, p. 177). Everyone has had to deal with being in this state at one point or another, sometimes multiple times in one day. For example, when your best friend asks about their new haircut. While you may dislike it, the concern over your friend’s feelings may have you say the opposite of how you feel about the haircut. A personal cognitive dissonance example is that I know the importance of getting eight hours of sleep and constantly tell myself to do it, especially on work nights. I know the next day at work will be ten hours at a computer, and I will be exhausted if I do not sleep enough. This will leave me not fully alert or paying that much attention to the work I must do. However, even knowing I should get eight hours and get to bed early, I often look for reasons not to follow through with getting the proper amount of sleep. Instead, I will come up with excuses like ‘Oh, I need me time with a podcast or some TikToks”, which always goes longer than it should. Then, those eight hours of sleep turn into five or six hours. As for how I have resolved this dissonance, the answer is still a work in progress; however, it has gotten slightly better. Rather than waiting until bedtime to unwind, I set an alarm on my phone to alert me when it gets closer to bedtime, I set for myself. From the alarm until bedtime, I have that as “me time” to relax and destress from work, school, and anything else on my plate. While the eight hours have not been reached, the number of hours has been better. All I can do is continue to work on resolving this dissonance since it will be beneficial for my health.
Harsher punishment may not be as effective as mild punishment in changing behavior due to the impact these punishments have on the person. When we use harsh punishments, we may prevent a behavior from occurring. However, because the person sees that it is the punishment that is controlling the behavior, the persons attitudes may not change (Changing Attitudes by Changing Behavior, 2015, para 18). Instead, the individual may pretend or act as if they are following what was said to avoid that punishment, but once they can, they will continue. Without changing the attitude behind the behavior, the individual will be looking for ways to hide what they are doing to avoid being caught. Then, once the punishment is removed, the person will return to it since they only feared it, but their attitude never changed. On the other hand, with mild punishment, there is an opportunity to change their attitude. Providing less punishment is more likely to lead the child to actually change his or her beliefs about the appropriateness of the behavior, but the punishment must be enough to prevent the undesired behavior in the first place (Changing Attitudes by Changing Behavior, 2015, para 19). By using mild punishments, the individual will not react as strongly as the harsher punishments. With a stronger attitude and emotions, this offers the opportunity for the person to think about and reflect on the situation. For example, parents want their kid’s homework done before talking on the phone with friends. By taking the phone away, the child may realize that if they get their homework done, they can have more phone time rather than worrying about homework. This can allow for changes to be made as the person starts to think about it and analyze the reasons for certain actions. This is why mild punishments are better when changing behavior than harsher punishments.
If I wanted to change someones belief about the importance of not using their phone while driving, I would first get a better understanding of their actions. Why do they feel they need to answer the phone right away while driving? Or why must they reply to this text or check about a text they got? By learning their reasoning for this issue and where their mindset is, we can try to shift their beliefs and actions in a different direction. By learning the reason behind their actions, we can use that information to provide evidence on why their actions may not be the best choice. Show the evidence behind different situations regarding driving and the phone, like reaction time or other incidents of what happened to people while driving on their phone. Another way is to connect the incident to them personally by having them imagine a scenario where they end up badly hurt due to being on the phone. Use that information if they admit a fear of missing out on something important when understanding their actions. Point out how, in answering that call or text from their fear of missing out, they may miss it for good since they got badly hurt in an accident. This awareness of certain details may cause the person to reevaluate their beliefs and attitude about driving while on their cell. From this, the two of us could talk about ways to allow them to use their cell phone still while being safer. Maybe a hands-free device or pull into a parking lot or somewhere safe before checking the phone or sending a text that needs to be sent. With brainstorming ideas, the individual can work out a different way that better matches how they feel about using the cell while driving. Also, with brainstorming, they are working out different ideas with some help rather than having rules enforced on them, which may not have the intended impact. There are other ways cognitive dissonance can be used, but this is the possible route I would take. Now for the question: returning to harsh and mild punishment, we saw how harsh punishments tend not to work the way one may hope. Do you feel there is ever a scenario where harsher punishments are the better option than mild punishments for cognitive dissonance?
