6B Cognitive Dissonance and Cognitive Biases

Question 1

Cognitive Dissonance

Answer 1

Cognitive dissonance refers to the psychological tension that arises when our attitudes, beliefs and/or behaviors do not align

Question 2

How do we reduce Cognitive Dissonance?

Answer 2

To reduce cognitive dissonance we either:
Change belief/thought
Change action

Question 3

Cognitive Biases

Answer 3

Cognitive biases areunconscious, systematic tendencies to interpret information in a way that is neither rational nor based on objective reality
These are ways you can avoid cognitive dissonance

Question 4

Halo Effect

Answer 4

The halo effect is the tendency for the impression we form about one quality of a person to influence our overall beliefs about the person in other respects

Question 5

Confirmation Bias

Answer 5

Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for and accept information that supports our prior beliefs or behaviours and ignore contradictory information

Question 6

False-consensus Bias

Answer 6

False-consensus bias isthe tendency to overestimate the extent to which other people are like them in terms of sharing beliefs, personal characteristics or behaviours.

Question 7

Self Serving Bias

Answer 7

Self-serving bias occurs when judging ourselves we tend to take the credit for our successes and attribute failures to situational factors

Question 8

Actor Observer Bias

Answer 8

Actor-observer bias is the tendency to attribute our own actions to external factors and situational causes while attributing other people’s actions to internal factors