Example of Cognitive Dissonance and Social Interactions

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Sarah’s compliant attitude towards her parents’ rules concerning her curfew were altered by the suggestions of the friends that were with her. Some factors that led up to Sarah’s decision was the desire to go to a party with her friends despite knowing she would be breaking the curfew her parents had placed. Another factor is Sarah’s thinking that she was going to be missing something big at the party if she didn’t go with her friends that night. A cognitive dissonance is a discomfort that a person experiences from holding two or more ideas that oppose one another. (Carter, 2013) Sarah was experiencing this from the worry and fear that her parents were going to find out about the party and her breaking curfew. Despite the worry and fear that was going on, Sarah was also experiencing happiness about being at the party with her friends and other popular kids that went to her school. Perhaps seeing the popular kids there may have given her a sense of being accepted by them. A few ways that Sarah conformed to her friends’ beliefs is when she trusted her friend’s assumption in think...

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