About ten years ago changed in my voting habits but this was not an easy thing to do. I voted out of habit that had been instilled by my parents, as this was where I mainly got my political information. Prior to this, without any argument to the contrary (I didn’t look for any opposing ideas), I continued to reconfirm my beliefs every voting cycle. In conversations with my parents after an election create a certain comfort of belonging to their political views. And for a parent, comfort that they had succeeded in their upbringing.

When I was challenged about the way I voted, I began asking how the policies I was voting for helped people, were caring, and of benefit to as many people as possible. I found that I had no satisfactory answers. So, I could either ignore the new information, or reshape my beliefs.

I reshaped my beliefs.

However, this was not the end of the Dissonance. I had to go vote. This may seem straight forward but there was a wrestle inside of me between my upbringing, belonging to my parents and newly found doubts.

The struggle internally was real as I was about to enact something I had never done before. I needed to turn the Talk into the Walk.

So, it was election day and as usual I had my name ticked off, collected my paper and headed into the polling booth.

It was a strange and uncomfortable feeling filling out the ballot, as I had to look for a different political party to vote for. It took me longer than normal and I had to sit with the discomfort throughout, silently questioning myself and what this change might cost in my next conversation with my parents, post polling-day.

In the end I voted with my new set of Beliefs, the change had been real, and this forced me to surface what I was thinking, feeling and believing.

And now with this new set of beliefs, what else needed to change to match these beliefs?

This was not just a shift in political belief but also a shift in belonging.

I had experienced Cognitive Dissonance first hand and knew of its psychological trauma. But I wasn’t going to go back. I had a whole new orientation regardless of upsetting my parents.

Often when I write blogs, I am purposefully polemic because I am trying to challenge a person’s thinking. I am trying to put them into Cognitive Dissonance. From all the research, this is the place where change takes place.

Cognitive Dissonance often starts with just an uncomfortable feeling, a disturbance or a questioning. At the beginning, the implications of this challenge are not always apparent.

Inside the field of Risk and Safety I challenge things like the benefits of Zero Harm or any approaches that dehumanize persons. With beliefs like Zero Harm, I need to be able to present information that is factual and researched that causes you to check yourself and promote doubt. When you are presented with a discourse that challenges what you believe, you are put into Dissonance.

As the Cognitive Dissonance semiotic below shows, when you get to the Red Square, you can either double down on your beliefs or hold a new explanation/truth/idea. You can cycle back to what is comfortable or engage in a new belief and accept all that comes with it.

 

When I was taught the concepts of Cognitive Dissonance, I wasn’t able to grasp them at first, and in discussions I have had since then with other people, they too have had difficulties in understanding dissonance.

So, I asked Dr Rob Long to do a video with me discussing Cognitive Dissonance, and why people react differently when faced with dissonance. And how it comes from a place of Care.

There are several moments in the video that are poignant for me and one of the comments that struck me most is when Rob says ‘we take a risk when putting people into dissonance’.

It is a risk because we may not get the reaction hoped for. That even from a position of care, they may not receptive. Everyone has a unique insight as to how they view the world, and it may not always agree with yours.

Some people use nudge techniques, I have never found them effective

https://safetyrisk.net/the-fallacy-of-marginal-gains-and-nudges/

So, now the only other factor is readiness. If the other person is not ready for a new idea, Dissonance will be challenging.

Happy Viewing