Importance Of Cognitive Dissonance

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My focus is close relationships, more specifically, communicating better and more effectively with my husband. We are more alike than we are different in personality and day to day life, but when disagreements occur our communication styles are opposite. Ordinarily, I need time to cool and process what has made me angry or hurt, while he wants to immediately discuss and resolve the issue. Furthermore, I tend to instantly shut down all communication and walk away, because I do not want to say anything that I will regret and I need time to reflect on my thoughts and feelings. Consequently, after I walk away he becomes insecure and feels like me needing a break is a disconnect to the relationship or emotion and has feelings of abandonment. …show more content…

Additionally, the next time an argument occurs, I stay in the conversation and calmly reassure him that I value his input and that I do want to discuss his thoughts on the matter and reinforce that I am committed to resolving the issue. While this concept may not work the first time I put it into action, over time if I am consistent and reassure him of my commitment to resolution I could change the attitudes and behaviors to buy me more time to process my thoughts and feelings without saying something to fuel an argument further.
Using the Cognitive Dissonance approach to improve communication during times of disagreements can be effective by taking time to understand his approach when we are not in a heated argument and be more understanding of his position on why he thinks it is more effective, so that I can apply this application when things do get heated. Furthermore, by my gesture of staying in the conversation when we are fighting and reassuring him that I am committed to resolve, I can help diffuse the feeling of abandonment and disconnection that he feels I have when I just walk

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