You Are Not So Smart 325 - Cognitive Dissonance - Part Two (rebroadcast)
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Oct 27, 2025 This week’s guest, Sarah Stein Lubrano, is a political scientist focused on the impact of cognitive dissonance on political behavior. She delves into how people rationalize their beliefs after lying, particularly when external justification is weak. Sarah explains the implications of dissonance for our self-narratives and how it can influence public compliance with policies. Plus, she shares strategies to harness dissonance for positive social change, blending psychology with activism tactics.
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Festinger's Cult To Lab Transition
- Leon Festinger infiltrated a doomsday cult and observed members doubling down after the prophecy failed.
- He later ran the Stanford boring-task study to recreate the same cognitive processes under lab conditions.
The Boring Tasks Experiment
- Participants performed hour-long, painfully boring tasks and were later asked to tell the next person the task was fun for money.
- Those paid $1 ultimately rated the task more enjoyable than those paid $20, revealing attitude change to reduce dissonance.
Why Small Rewards Trigger Belief Change
- When external justification is weak, people create internal justifications and genuinely change belief to remove discomfort.
- The insufficient justification effect shows attitude change can follow from small rewards, not large ones.
