According to Festinger (1985), dissonance is the existence of cognitions that do not agree with each other. On the other hand, he defines cognitions as all the knowledge, opinions or beliefs that a person has about himself, his behavior and his environment. Building on this, Festinger sees cognitive dissonance as an antecedent condition that leads to the reduction of dissonance (which he compares to hunger and activities aimed at reducing hunger), and the search for concordance. In addition to trying to reduce this dissonance, the person will also avoid situations or information that increase the dissonance.
To illustrate how dissonance can be reduced, Festinger uses his classic example of the smoker who has learned that smoking is bad for his health: he could have read it from a book, newspapers, magazines, perhaps it was told to him by a friend, family member or even a doctor. This information is discordant with the thought that he is currently a smoker.
The reduction of cognitive dissonance can occur if:
-The person alters his behavior (i.e., stops smoking), since then there will be no problems with the new information.
-Alter your knowledge, convince yourself that it really is not as bad as they say or gather evidence about the benefits of smoking. If he manages to do some of those things, it will reduce the dissonance between what he does and what he knows.
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It may also happen that you try to quit smoking but find it very difficult, or that you try to seek positive opinions or information about the benefits of smoking without success. In this case, the dissonance will not be reduced.
Fountain: Festinger, L. (1985).