RE: Cognitive dissonance
February 27, 2016 at 7:22 am
(This post was last modified: February 27, 2016 at 7:34 am by bennyboy.)
Sorry, I think you are misunderstanding the term-- talking about simply ontradictory ideas is not why the term "cognitive dissonance" was coined. It's more about the psychological state of conflict, which results in potentially harmful levels of projection, neurosis, psychosis, etc. and possibly even a nervous breakdown.
Another way to look at it is the stress that is caused when evidence contradicts deeply-seated beliefs, causing an increasingly taxing workload on the brain as it attempts to reconcile a more-and-more complicated narrative with the real world. Eventually, the energy required to maintain the broken world view becomes such a huge drain that the person will either have a nervous breakdown or at least a moment of revelation, in which they necessarily give up their views.
In short, the things you listed aren't cognitive dissonance. If a person struggles with them deeply and becomes troubled and stressed by that conflict, then that's cognitive dissonance. But we all know many Christians who are capable of holding obviously contrary positions and sleeping like fucking babies.
By the way, I think one of the most common ideas with regard to cognitive dissonance is the idea of immortality of the self or a loved one. And in a sense, I'd say that the Christian idea of heaven actually REDUCES the cognitive dissonance, by letting one imagine a virtual loved one living on in heaven, thereby removing the need to re-work one's world view when a parent, sibling, or child dies. Atheists often overlook this fact-- that faith can facilitate one's ability to keep getting up and showing up to work in the morning, even when something horrible has happened.
Another way to look at it is the stress that is caused when evidence contradicts deeply-seated beliefs, causing an increasingly taxing workload on the brain as it attempts to reconcile a more-and-more complicated narrative with the real world. Eventually, the energy required to maintain the broken world view becomes such a huge drain that the person will either have a nervous breakdown or at least a moment of revelation, in which they necessarily give up their views.
In short, the things you listed aren't cognitive dissonance. If a person struggles with them deeply and becomes troubled and stressed by that conflict, then that's cognitive dissonance. But we all know many Christians who are capable of holding obviously contrary positions and sleeping like fucking babies.
By the way, I think one of the most common ideas with regard to cognitive dissonance is the idea of immortality of the self or a loved one. And in a sense, I'd say that the Christian idea of heaven actually REDUCES the cognitive dissonance, by letting one imagine a virtual loved one living on in heaven, thereby removing the need to re-work one's world view when a parent, sibling, or child dies. Atheists often overlook this fact-- that faith can facilitate one's ability to keep getting up and showing up to work in the morning, even when something horrible has happened.
