Tag Archives: cognitive dissonance

The illusion of dispassionate decision making

Posted on July 29, 2022 by koenfucius

We don’t always need to perform a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis to make good decisions. Earlier this week, I took half a day off and went to see an old friend, whom I had not seen for over twenty years. On … Continue reading →

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Priors and prejudice

Posted on June 25, 2021 by koenfucius

(featured image: Nicole Köhler/Pixabay) How open is our mind, really? A few days ago, a prominent economist posted a table on Twitter. In itself this was not a particularly remarkable event, were it not for the fact that it showed … Continue reading →

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Consonance is boring, dissonance is hard

Posted on February 12, 2021 by koenfucius

(featured image: KylaBorg/Flickr CC BY) Is there a way to manage cognitive dissonance that doesn’t involve changing what we do or believe, or fooling ourselves? In music, two or more tones played together can sound pleasant, or unpleasant. The former … Continue reading →

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Dissonance in human nature

Posted on January 19, 2018 by koenfucius

How do we resolve the inevitable perceived contradictions in the traits of the people around us? In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey relates how he was riding on the New York subway one Sunday morning. The … Continue reading →

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