Cognitive dissonance is a psychological concept developed by Leon Festinger in 1957. It refers to the discomfort or tension that arises when a person holds two or more contradictory beliefs, attitudes, or values, or when their behavior conflicts with their beliefs or values. This discomfort motivates individuals to resolve the inconsistency and bring their thoughts, beliefs, and actions into alignment.

The best and most destructive samples of cognitive dissonance are religious beliefs. The internal struggle between what is logical or scientific proof and the absurd concocted lies from indoctrinated believers must tear away in the average person. All reason and logic falls apart when people have to admit that their belief system is not working for them in times of need. That is a pure form of cognitive dissonance.

Cognitive dissonance can be identified by:

1. Inconsistency: Cognitive dissonance occurs when there is a perceived inconsistency between two cognition’s (thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, or values) or between cognition and behavior. For example, if someone believes that smoking is harmful to their health but continues to smoke, they experience cognitive dissonance.
2. Discomfort: The presence of cognitive dissonance creates psychological discomfort or tension within an individual. This discomfort can manifest as feelings of guilt, anxiety, stress, or frustration. This is the basis of religion and also why religion has such an immense stronghold on people.
3. Motivation to Resolve: To alleviate the discomfort caused by cognitive dissonance, individuals are motivated to reduce or eliminate the inconsistency. They may do this by changing their beliefs, modifying their behavior, or finding ways to rationalize or justify their actions. Religion demands from their followers to pray for forgiveness. The absurd notion that an invisible being can resolve your anguish created by yourself.
4. Resolution Strategies: There are several ways people can resolve cognitive dissonance:
   • Changing Beliefs: They may change one or more of their beliefs to make them more consistent with their behavior. For example, scientist will replicate their work to test their results. Other scientist will also replicate others work to prove its validity. Religious people go to Church in order to be blamed.
   • Changing Behavior: Individuals may alter their actions to align with their existing beliefs or values. In the smoking example, they might quit smoking to reduce the dissonance. Religious people don’t really change their behaviors, pray for forgiveness and do it again. Sounds like Groundhog Day.
   • Adding New Beliefs: People may introduce new beliefs or justifications that help bridge the gap between their conflicting cognition’s. For instance, they might convince themselves that the stress relief they get from smoking outweighs the health risks.

Cognitive dissonance is a fundamental concept in psychology and has been widely studied in various contexts, including decision-making, attitude change, and persuasion. It highlights the human tendency to seek consistency in our thoughts, beliefs, and actions and sheds light on how we navigate the challenges of managing conflicting information or values. Cognitive dissonance is not tolerated in religion, anything that tests your faith is labeled as sin. And we are back to the guilt feeling.