What say you?
Cognitive Dissonance Is The Driving Force Of Discovery?
by frankiespeakin 21 Replies latest jw friends
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Crazyguy
No its what keeps people in the dark and stupid.
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snare&racket
Jesus Christ.... that could be the dumbest and most ironic thing I will ever see.
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frankiespeakin
Wait a minute, cognitive dissonance isn't all bad that's black and white thinking.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance
Applications of research
In addition to explaining certain counter-intuitive human behaviour, the theory of cognitive dissonance has practical applications in several fields.
Education
Creating and resolving cognitive dissonance can have a powerful impact on students’ motivation for learning. [ 24 ] For example, researchers have used the effort justification paradigm to increase students’ enthusiasm for educational activities by offering no external reward for students’ efforts: preschoolers who completed puzzles with the promise of a reward were less interested in the puzzles later, as compared to preschoolers who were offered no reward in the first place. [ 25 ] The researchers concluded that students who can attribute their work to an external reward stop working in the absence of that reward, while those who are forced to attribute their work to intrinsic motivation came to find the task genuinely enjoyable.
Psychologists have incorporated cognitive dissonance into models of basic processes of learning, notably constructivist models. Several educational interventions have been designed to foster dissonance in students by increasing their awareness of conflicts between prior beliefs and new information (e.g., by requiring students to defend prior beliefs) and then providing or guiding students to new, correct explanations that will resolve the conflicts. [ 26 ]
For example, researchers have developed educational software that incorporates these principles in order to facilitate student questioning of complex subject matter. [ 27 ] Meta-analytic methods suggest that interventions that provoke cognitive dissonance to achieve directed conceptual change have been demonstrated across numerous studies to significantly increase learning in science and reading. [ 26 ]
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SAHS
I would think that cognitive dissonance would be the driving force behind the LACK of discovery – i.e., not wanting to discover empirical truths, or resisting/oppressing the human need to do so.
Of course, the REAL cognitive dissonance would be to stifle the urge to research empirical truths about things which have already been discovered and proven - including updated empirical truths which indicate that certain current or historical empirical truths already discovered are/were, in fact, incorrect or completely disproven/improvable.
In other words, the cognitive dissonance comes when there is LACK of humility and willingness to discover the true nature of things using the scientific method. Any human understanding of truths/facts/information relating to either things in the natural world/universe, humanity/sociology, or religious/philosophical ideas always has to be open to scrutiny and the discovery of any inconsistencies or fallacies arising from such human understanding.
Put simply: cognitive dissonance comes from NOT discovering and from NOT being willing to reexamine what is discovered.
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fulltimestudent
It was a cognitive dissonance existing in my mind, that led me out of Yahweh's death trap.
First, of course, I had to suffer the ritual, 'stoning to death,' that dissidents must undergo in order to escape. How painful (emotionally) that was!
But when my wounds healed, and I became fully awake for the first time in 4 decades, how sweet was my freedom.
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Mad Sweeney
The same sort of cognitive dissonance that cults use to hook people is also what gets people out. It is just that the cognitive dissonance that gets you in is wielded by a controlling source but the dissonance that gets you out is either from within yourself or from someone teaching you how to think, act, or feel freely (which causes dissonance with your cultish beliefs).
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frankiespeakin
I think this also adds some support on how we learn. Anyway my idea is cognitive dissonance is why we learn in the first place and understanding some learning theory may be helpful.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivism_(learning_theory)
Constructivism is a theory to explain how knowledge is constructed in the human being when information comes into contact with existing knowledge that had been developed by experiences. It has its roots in cognitive psychology and biology and an approach to education that lays emphasis on the ways knowledge is created in order to adapt to the world. Constructs are the different types of filters we choose to place over our realities to change our reality from chaos to order. Von Glasersfeld describes constructivism as “a theory of knowledge with roots in philosophy, psychology, and cybernetics”. [ 1 ] Constructivism has implications for the theory of instruction. Discovery learning, hands-on, experiential, collaborate, project-based, tasked-based are a number of applications that base teaching and learning on constructivism.
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Satanus
Seems that people misunderstand what cogintive dissonence really is. Its a symptom of conflict between a belief held and evidence to the contrary. Its not a bad thing, its a sign that something is not right. The wt org thinks its bad and teaches its sheeple to suppress and do activities to distract from it. Naturally, jws don't want to hear the clanging dissonence. The fact that we are here is a sign that we DID pay attention to the conflicting noise and decided to see from where the mental noise came. So, it was really a good thing for us.
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scotoma
I don't believe cognitive dissonance is the driving force for discovery.
You are confusing a force with a particular condition.
The force behind cognitive dissonance is the force for discovery.
The force behind cognitive dissonance is the need for orientation/curiosity/play/seeking behavior.
Organisms have food/needs/hunger centered around their visceral system. Organisms have a need for control and action which resides in the muscular or motor system. Organisms have a need for safety through planning and decision making which is the function of the nervous system. And organisms need information with which to orient itself - sensory system.
When you are faced with conflicing orientational signals you have difficulty processing the data and arriving at a decision or direction. The ancients called this double minded.
The problem is when a cult creates a time pressure where you feel you must decide right now - that there are grave consequences if you don't "make up your mind" make a decision. In addition the cult will take over your source of information and severely limit other external sources. Under this pressure the cult develops a sense of urgency. When you feel urgency you crave external help. The cult is all too willing to show you the way.
Normally the driving force of curiosity/orientation/seeking will continue to scan the environment until a resolution based on fact or reality becomes clear. Curiosity is similar to playfulness. Curiosity is insensitive to time. It is child like and will take however much time is needed.
Cults, dogma, cheap philosophy and psychology try to inhibit this natural playfulness.
This is why cults emanate from a hierarchically organized position similar to a parent. Authoritarianism.