Tricks Our Brain Plays On Us

- Cognive Dissonance

Most of us like to think we are in total control of the decisions we make and that we know the underlying causes of our beliefs and acons. In most cases, this is probably the case – somemes however, there are psychological aspects at play.

Take a look at the following games our mind likes to play:

You are more likely to say you enjoyed something if you paid a lot of money for it.This means that if you paid £100 for a theatre cket, you are more likely to say you enjoyed it (even if you didn't) than someone who paid £50 for the same show. This is caused by a phenomenon known as cognive dissonance.

Explained simply, this occurs when your situaon/acons/convicons contradict your true belief.

So, when your acons (in this case paying £100 for a theatre cket) contradict with your beliefs ('I know how to get good value for money at the theatre'), the only way to escape cognive dissonance is to change your belief regarding how good the play was. You believe a price ending in '99' is cheap because of the shape you make with your mouth when you say it.

Of course a price that ends in '99', such as £1.99 will at first appear cheaper as it is slightly cheaper than £2.00. But another more interesng reason why we are drawn to these prices is due to the shape our mouths make when we say it. Words that force our mouths to open wide are associated with large shapes, while words that are smaller and more angular (i.e. 'ny', 'mini', 'pete') are associated with small things. A price ending in 'ninety-nine' therefore makes us think of a small price.

Signs of Cognive Dissonance

Everyone experiences cognive dissonance to some degree but that doesn't mean that it is always easy to recognize. Some signs that what you are feeling might be related to dissonance include:

Ÿ Feeling uncomfortable before doing something or making a decision.

Ÿ Trying to jusfy or raonalize a decision you've made or acon you have taken

Ÿ Feeling embarrassed or ashamed about something you've done and trying to hide your acons from other people

Ÿ Experiencing guilt or regret about something you've done in the past

Ÿ Doing things because of social pressure or a fear of missing out (FOMO), even if it wasn’t something you wanted to do.

What does this inconsistencyrelated discomfort look like in everyday life? Here are just a few cognive dissonance examples that you may noce in your own:

· You want to be healthy, but you don't exercise regularly or

Ÿ eat a nutrious diet. You feel guilty as a result.

Ÿ You know that smoking or drinking to much is harmfulto your health, but you do it anyway. You raonalise this acon by poinng to your high stress levels.

Ÿ You'd like to build up your savings but tend to spend extra cash as soon as you get it. You regret this decision later, such as when facing an unexpected expense that you don't have the money to cover.

Ÿ You have a long to-do list but spend the day watching your favourite shows instead. You don't want your spouse to know, so you try to make it look like you've worked hard all day.

Cognive dissonance plays a role in many value judgments, decisions, and evaluaons. Becoming aware of how conflicng beliefs impact the decisionmaking process is a great way to improve your ability to make faster and more accurate choices.

Kim Holloway www.total-therapy.co.uk