Define Attitude. Explain the Cognitive Dissonance theory

Leon festinger was the founder of dissonance theory. According to this theory, people want their beliefs to be consistent with one another and want their behavior to be consistent with their beliefs. When people become aware of inconsistency among their beliefs or between their attitude and their behavior they experience cognitive dissonance.

This theory argues that any form of inconsistency is uncomfortable and that individual will attempt to reduce the dissonance and hence will experience the discomfort. To avoid this they will look for a stable state where there is a minimum of dissonance.

To determine the level of dissonance one should first evaluate the importance of elements creating the dissonance. These elements can be classified in to three heads.

Cognitive focuses on an unobservable change in mental knowledge. Cognitive learning is learning achieved by thinking about the perceived relation ship between events and individual goals and expectations. Cognition refers to individual’s goals and expectations. Cognition refers to individual’s ideas, thoughts, knowledge, interpretation and understanding about the individuals and environment.

Assumptions of Cognitive theories

1. Some learning process may be unique to human beings.

2. Cognitive processes are the focus of study.

3. Objective, systemic observations of people, behaviour should b e the focus of scientific inquiry; however, inferences about unobservable mental processes can often be drawn from such behaviour.

4. Individuals are actively involved in the learning process.

5. Learning involves the formation of mental associations that are not necessarily reflected in overt behaviour changes.

6. Knowledge is organized.

7. Learning is a process of relating new information to previously learned information.