Introduction
As a revered author, Elliot Aronson provides a very gripping preamble to the intricacies of modern psychology. By use of lively presentations, vivid narratives, intriguing examples and facts from pertinent research, the author delves into motives and patterns of human behavior. The author covers diverse topics like conformity, terrorism, advertising, power of religious cults, obedience, interpersonal attraction, politics, war, relations regarding race. Chapter five of the book particularly deals with self-justification. The author explored different concepts in this chapter relating to the above mentioned issue. This paper explores these concepts within the context of the real world.
Discussion
An important concept addressed in the chapter is the irrevocability of decisions. This concept addresses that once an action is taken on an already made decision, there is relative difficulty in revocation the actions, and by extension the decisions. This concept is very alluring because human beings are faced in situations that require decision making. As such, the need to understand this concept is underscored by the fact that most decisions have far reaching implications. The irrevocability of decisions is a concept that affects people in everyday lives. For instance, while attending a fundraiser for my friend’s hospital bill, we were required to make contributory pledges towards the fundraiser. Since I had no other commitments, I made a sizeable commitment that put an economic dent to my savings. Later in the same day, my vehicle was involved in a minor accident that would costs almost the same amount of money that I pledged in repairs. The implications here was that using the remaining savings would clear all the money I had saved. The alternative was to revoke the pledge that I had made towards my friend’s hospital bills.
The dynamics involved in this instance are very apparent. Firstly, there is the fact that I reserved a right to reverse the decision to contribute towards my friend’s hospital bills. However, owing to the fact that he is my friend, my commitment towards the contribution was emphasized by making written pledge for a given amount of money. Another implication of this instance is that my written pledge triggered a happy anticipation on my friend’s part. In the event that I recede the pledged contributions, the anticipated event will be thwarted, the effect of which is disappointment and dissonance. This concept helps me evaluate my actions relating to this instance.
Another concept presented in the chapter is that of dissonance. The concept of dissonance permeates all the other concepts that are discussed in the chapter. Dissonance when used in this context implies the lack of agreement between a person’s beliefs. This means that the beliefs that one holds are antagonistic. Additionally, dissonance in this context implies incongruence between the beliefs that a person holds and the actions that stem from this individual. Dissonance is also seen in the context of cognitive dissonance that stems from two different cognitions that are consistent from a psychological perspective. According to the author, dissonance is the consequence of decision making. This concept is very important because it reflects in issues that people face on a constant basis in different spheres of life (Aronson 187).
Very many people find it overbearing to lead an active life. This is because of impeding factors like work schedules, the allure of technological devices, most of which are indoors and the level of effort required to lead an active life. This is a dilemma that most people grapple with on a daily basis. Reducing this dissonance requires changing one of the cognition in order to make it more consonant with others. In this case, this would require me to make an effort to lead an active life. Alternatively, I could add other cognitions that reduce the gap between the originally held cognitions. In this context, this would involve some indoor activities.
Conclusion
These concepts relate to daily experiences that people face in day-to-day lives. The perspectives of the author are not only informative but also enlightening. While many other concepts are presented in the chapter, I am worried whether there is another interplay of these factors that affects human behavior that the author might not have highlighted. I agree with the fact that dissonance arises when one holds different cognitions regarding the same concept. However, I disagree with the suppositions that one add cognitions in order to bridge the dissonance gap between previously held attitudes. In my cognition, attitude change is required in order to reduce the dissonance gaps. Adding cognitions can work if such cognitions are accompanied by relevant behavioral modeling and actions.
Works cited
Aronson, Elliot. The Social animal. Worth Publishers. New York. 2011. Print.
