Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive dissonance is a common impasse people face on a daily basis. It occurs when attitudes fail to align with behavior and visa versa. The mental and moral discomfort one feels when acting against their beliefs is sometimes so great that individuals seek common ground between their attitudes and behavior to lessen the strain. This could be a matter of altering beliefs to align with actions or changing the way one acts to better correspond with their attitudes. The concept of cognitive dissonance provides an explanation for attitudes that follow behavior. Any sort of inconsistency between behavior and attitudes is alarming and human nature is to seek equilibrium between attitudes and behavior with a minimum amount of dissonance.
The Green movement has attracted many individuals. People drawn to this cause adopt an attitude of environmental awareness and highlight the importance of reducing, reusing, and recycling. For many individuals, a development of this “Go Green” attitude has resulted in chan
ges in behavior such as recycling, replacing plastic water bottles with Nalgenes, requesting paperless bank statements, and replacing electric lighting with more energy efficient compact fluorescent or LED light bulbs. All such actions lessened the cognitive dissonance these individuals were experiencing with regards to their new “Go Green” attitudes. However, most of these same individuals have not purchased a hybrid or more fuel-efficient car, renovated their homes with solar panels and electric wind turbine systems, or become a vegan. Depending on an individual’s emotional and moral resonance with a belief or attitude, they will take respective strides to reduce the amount of dissonance they are experiencing.
For example, Bruce is a businessman in his late 20s. He recently accepted a job in New York marketing for a fuel-efficient energy company. He currently lives in an apartment near Central Park. Everyday he is surrounded by co-workers with strong ties to the environmental movement. On a daily basis he searches for ways to push the idea of sustainability to the company’s consumer base. Every other weekend he attends banquets where celebrities speak about their future plans for making the world more environmentally friendly. He begins to develop a stronger tie to environmentalism and sustainability. He decides to move to a more sustainable apartment with a rooftop garden, LED lighting, and solar panel heating. This was Bruce’s attempt to reduce the dissonance he began to feel as a result of his newly adopted “green” attitude and his previously non-green behavior.
The song “My Brain Says Stop But My Heart Says Go” by the band Fm Static is another example of cognitive dissonance. The artist is singing about the confusion he feels between his thoughts and desires that affect his attitude and behavior, respectively. A segment of the chorus is as follows:
“Don’t follow that yellow brick road
When your brain says stop but your heart says go”
This is an example of cognitive dissonance between actions and thoughts. It is clear the artist is struggling with the decision to follow his logical reasoning (thoughts and attitude) or his desire (intended behavior).
Attitudes
Attitudes play a major role in the workforce. Job satisfaction and involvement are two major indicators of organizational citizenship and job performance. They are also positively correlated to absenteeism and turnover.
Organizational commitment is also important. It refers to an employee’s tendency to identify with a given organization’s goals and values, and their wish to remain a member. There are three types of organizational commitment. The first is affective commitment and is identified as an emotional attachment to the organization and a tie to its values. Harriet Tubman was affectively committed to developing the Underground Railroad. Even after she escaped to freedom she subsequently returned to the south to assist in a total of thirteen missions, risking her life because of the strong beliefs she held in the organizations values. The second is continuance commitment and is responsible for tying individuals to organizations as a result of apparent economic value. Mr. Incredible working monotonous insurance jobs against his will to support his family in the Disney movie The Incredibles is an example of continuance commitment. The third type of organizational commitment is normative commitment, and is expressed when an employee feels morally or ethically
obligated to stay with an organization. Edward Smith, captain of the titanic, went downwith the ship by choice. He demonstrated strong normative commitment to the crew and voyage by willingly sacrificing himself rather than affront his personal morals by deserting.
Employee engagement is another attitude related to job satisfaction. It counts towards an individual’s interest, enthusiasm, and sense of fulfillment one gains from the work he or she does. If an employee is passionate, believes their work is significant and productive with respect to the organization’s goals, and deems interactions with their co-workers and supervisors as rewarding they are likely to rate high on an employee engagement scale.
Let’s take the example of Stanley Hudson, a character in the popular TV series The Office. Stanley is disengaged in meetings, oblivious to workplace activity, uninterested in conversation with fellow co-workers and boss. He takes little interest in his job and does not seem to psychologically identify his work as important to self worth. His character demonstrates low employee engagement. In tandem with this, he demonstrates characteristics of having low job involvement. It is apparent that Stanley is not very satisfied with his job.
Individuals In Organizations 