Cognitive dissonance is everywhere — but it’s not well understood. When we’re aware of it, it can be a powerful motivator for behavioral change and enhance insight. When we're not, it can cause us to ...

This month's Double Feature: Cognitive Dissonance and Wishful Thinking, two thrillers about floundering Central Banks and frantic Ministries of Propaganda. The global economy is now dominated by ...

Cognitive dissonance is a term for the state of discomfort felt when two or more modes of thought contradict each other. The clashing cognitions may include ideas, beliefs, or the knowledge that one ...

Clay Halton was a Business Editor at Investopedia and has been working in the finance publishing field for more than five years. He also writes and edits personal finance content, with a focus on ...

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 keep second-guessing your decisions after you’ve made them? Immobilizing yourself? Berating yourself when you finally decide on something? This can be a normal albeit painful way to make ...

Cognitive dissonance isn’t something we talk about a lot, but we experience examples of it happening all the time. Cognitive dissonance, in psychological terms, describes the discomfort felt when your ...

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 ...

Cognitive dissonance is the state of mind that holds opposing, and even irreconcilable ideas, at the same time. It's a state of mind that most people find sufficiently uncomfortable to motivate them ...