[LINK] Cognitive Dissonance [Was: Mind Chauvinism - a quote and a link]

[David Boxall]

On 29/05/2011 9:54 AM, Adrian Chadd wrote:
> ...
> Cognitive Dissonance is better used to describe why peoples' ideals,
> morals/ethics, opinions, etc can be shifted by their actions.
> ...

Attempting to simplify such a complex subject is fraught with pitfalls. 
I vaguely remember an experiment by (I think) Zimbardo in the 1960s, in 
which two groups of students were paid to deceive another group. The 
deceiver group that was paid least (and therefore had least incentive) 
showed greatest dissonance. In effect, they came to believe that they 
were not deceiving. For the other deceiver group the reward gave more 
substantial incentive, so they suffered least dissonance. They didn't 
need to believe.

Most of us are not sociopaths. We don't easily do what we believe to be 
wrong. Cognitive Dissonance could be seen as a factor in a coping mechanism.

A quick Google turned up 
<http://eprints.worc.ac.uk/566/1/Zimbardo_final.pdf>, a 3-page pdf that 
mentions a couple of other iconic experiments. It's worth a read.

To get this back on topic, how much of the evil done on the 'net 
(bullying, trolling) is abetted by Cognitive Dissonance? How much is 
just sociopathology?

-- 
David Boxall                    |  All that is required
                                |  for evil to prevail is
http://david.boxall.id.au       |  for good men to do nothing.
                                |     -- Edmund Burke (1729-1797)