Psychology is one of the scientific fields that has put most efforts in trying to determine the factors that contribute to the attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of individuals. There are many theories in psychology that have used different assumptions to determine the legitimacy of their thinking on factors that contribute to human behaviors. Cognitive dissonance is one of the theory that claims that in a situation where there are conflicting attitudes, behaviors or beliefs, the individual develops discomfort leading to the individual altering his attitudes, behaviors or beliefs to reduce the discomfort. By doing so, the individual is able to restore the balance and reduce the conflicting attitudes (Cooper, 2007). The aim of this paper is to analyze the cognitive dissonance theory and apply it to Pat’s case study. The first section is aimed at discussing the background and literature provided under the theory. The second section intends to provide a brief summary on Pat’s case study. The information gained from the two sections will enable a better appliance in the third section that intends to apply the theory in relation to Pat’s case study. The final section is the conclusion that will provide the summary of the key points.
Background of Cognitive Dissonance
The theory was suggested by Festinger. He claimed that all humans have inner drive to hold their attitudes and beliefs in harmony and avoid disharmony at all costs. The theory is based on the principle of cognitive consistency thus the idea that humans seek for consistency in their beliefs and attitudes even in situations where there is inconsistency. Festinger claimed that powerful motive to maintain cognitive consistency is more likely to lead to irrational and maladaptive behaviors (Cooper, 2007). He claimed that since the experience of dissonance is unpleasant everyone is motivated to eliminate it to gain consonance. The dissonance is due to the different views and cognition about the world and ourselves. The theory has used different experiments that are monotonous and boring and using different initiatives to motivate the participants to portray the three methods that can be used to reduce dissonance. The first method is identifying the elements that create dissonance, once identified, the individual can change the element or elements but the method is difficult to implement when the dissonant elements are derived from well-learned or addictive habits for instance, drug use. The second method is acquiring new information. Information inadequacy may be the cause of the dissonance belief, behavior or attitude thus informative and reliable information may be useful to change the maladaptive behavior, belief or attitude (Mitchell, Jolley, & Dawson Books, 2013). Lastly, reduction of beliefs, attitudes and behaviors importance to either change or continue within their comfort zones or change their behavior.
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Brief Summary of Pat’s Case Study
Pat McCarthy was a tinker, semi-transient and pigeon keeper. He writes fanzines that are devoted to celebration of pigeons and smut zine featuring women photographs hired from craigslist. The women came to his home where he would photograph spread-eagle over his couch. Pat started keeping pigeons when he moved next to a pet store. Pat is described as having behaviors of party and show crushing in New York. Two years prior to his pigeon keeping worked as a janitor thus gaining the basic skills to clean and care for the pigeons ( Pat McCarthy: Case Study ). He started off with a single pigeon and at the time of the case study he had 50 pigeons. He has grown close to the pigeons to a point that he has named the pigeons.
His attachment with the pigeons is shown by his claims that he was too sorrowful when one of his pigeons died that he even spent time mourning before burying the pigeon in a cemetery. Other issues worth noting is that Pat uses the pigeons to take pornographic photos with women but does not use enforce inbreeding which he sees it as evil ( Pat McCarthy: Case Study ). The birds are doing not have freedom since he makes the decisions according to how he regards as best for them. The Pat case study portray some confusing behaviors which can be understood by the use of cognitive dissonance.
Cognitive Dissonance on Pat’s Case Study
The pigeon keeping ideas were developed when he moved next to pet store, this can be explained by the notion in cognitive dissonance that claims that changes in the world perceptions may bring discomfort to an individual’s cognition thus the individual has to change some of the elements to eliminate the discomfort (Mitchell, Jolley, & Dawson Books, 2013). Pat’s moving to a new location may have deprived him the relationship he had with his friends in the previous location thus to balance his cognition he sort to keep his first pigeon since pigeons are friendly and interesting pets. The availability of pigeons in the pet store and his boredom enabled him to balance his cognition.
Caring for pets and animals is a good behavior but Pat’s usage of the pigeons is unethical in that he uses them to realize his fascinations in pornography by using them and paying women to take sexual or voyeur positions. Pat uses the cages to dictate the living of the animals and uses money to force women into such positions which portrays a maladaptive behavior. Pat’s actions can be changed by educating him on reducing the importance of his fascinations for him to change his dissonance and take care of the pigeons in an ethical manner. The essence that he was once a janitor may seem that his desire to be master dominates his judgment in the treatment of the pigeons and women. Pat needs more information to learn on better treatment of animals and respect on women. Lastly, the obsession relationship with the birds where he even names them and mourns their death portray that he need friends that is human friends. His boredom resulting to his migration to a new location may have led to loss of friends thus the reason to keep pigeons. By learning to reduce the importance of his cognition, he will be able to have friends or associate with people rather than with the pigeons (Mitchell, Jolley, & Dawson Books, 2013).
Conclusion
According to the paper, cognitive dissonance involves trying to reduce discomfort resulting from change in beliefs, behaviors and attitude. Pat’s case study illustrates that there is complicated relationship between Pat and his pigeons due to his attitude, beliefs and behaviors as depicted by the cognitive dissonance theory. It is clear that learning to reduce the importance of an individual’s cognition can help change one’s behavior as discussed under the above section.
References
Cooper, J. (2007). Cognitive dissonance: Fifty years of a classic theory . Los Angeles: SAGE.
Mitchell, M. L., Jolley, J. M., & Dawson Books. (2013). Research design explained . Cengage Learning.
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