Cognitive Dissonance Case Studies

Acting out of character against your better judgment, can cause a person to feel conflicted or disheartened. However, it’s how they deal with the conflict, either by changing it into a good or dreadful situation, which change the way they feel about themselves. Throughout this paper, I will use cognitive dissonance research to Pat’s case study and examine the rationalization of her beliefs, which does not coincide with her actions. Pat as lived a inconsistent life, she beliefs in one thing or another, but chose to act in a different manner, such as smoking, her medical issues, holding down a job, her avoidance of school at a young age, having mental health issues in her family and her denial of having one real friend. Pat recognized these inconsistencies, which cause her dissonance (discomfort), and as motivated her to resolve her discomfort by changing her perception of her actions, thereby rationalize her view and memory of
Pat told her mother she wanted to stop smoking, however after several attempts, Pat started stating she didn’t want to stop smoking since “I’m going to die anyway, I like smoking, it calms me down, and we are all going to die someday.” Pat denied having surgery as well, which could have contributed to her smoking, in view of the fact she was smoking a pack a day since she was 13. Pat as been in the hospital several times and the last one was when she was 31years old.
Pat’s boss describe Pat as a laidback worker, a person who doesn’t take work seriously, she would be late to work sometimes and takes long breaks to smoke and to be alone. However, Pat’s perspective differs from her boss, because she declared she just couldn’t decide what she wanted to do or her boss just didn’t like her. Nevertheless, even though she has worked a lot of different jobs since she was 16 until she was 25, Pat is