Imagine that you have just parked your car. A passer by approaches and politely points out that you have parked on the pavement and on the yellow line, and that this is both illegal and wrong. Firstly how would you feel? And secondly how would you respond?
Most people would feel uncomfortable on being confronted with such an inconvenient truth. Some would respond by saying that they didn't know or had forgotten. But this would not relieve their discomfort unless they began to believe their own lies.
Others would shrug their shoulders and point out that many other people were parked in a similar way. This self justification would make them feel better, since it appears to demonstrate that they are no worse than anybody else. Other people may resort to shouting abuse at the passer by, demanding to know: "Who do you think you are to tell me what is right and what is wrong?" They would go off feeling much better and full of righteous indignation. Very few people would thank the passer by for pointing out their mistake and then go and park in another place.
Why? Even though the last course of action is the right thing to do?
Psychologists call this uncomfortable feeling of tension "cognitive dissonance". It occurs every time we hold two conflicting logical thoughts (ideas, attitudes, beliefs or behaviours) at once. We don't like feeling this tension. Admitting that we are wrong only makes us feel worse, especially if we have a lot to lose, or have placed a lot of faith in our belief. We therefore seek other ways of circumventing this mental conflict and making dissonance go away.
A famous and extreme case of dissonance avoidance was described by social psychologist Leon Festinger and two of his colleagues in the 1950s. They secretly studied a religious group which believed that the world would end on December 21. The group's leader promised the faithful that they would be picked up by a flying saucer and taken to safety on December 20th. Many of the followers left their jobs and gave away their homes and savings. They gathered together to await salvation.
The appointed time for the spaceship's arrival came and went. Tension and anxiety mounted. Then, just before 5.00 a.m., the group's leader had a new vision: she declared that God had saved the world because of the immense faith shown by this small group of followers. "Not since the beginning of time upon this Earth has there been such a force of good and light...!"
Despair gave way to exhilaration. The group had saved the world! Group members called the press to report the miracle and went out in the streets to convert passers by. The prediction had failed, but rather than admit the agonising truth of failure, the group had invented -and believed- an alternative explanation which both justified their actions and dispelled their tension. Festinger went on to develop the "dissonance theory", which is widely accepted today.
Dissonance and divorce
It is easy to laugh at such a story, but it's important to remember that we are all subject to this phenomenon. Why is it that divorce can be so acrimonious? How can two people who were once so close come to hate each other so much? Social psychologists Carol Tavris and Elliott Aronson believe that dissonance and self justification are the key.
People entering a new relationship appreciate each other's good qualities, while minimising the importance of bad ones: "he might drink a little too much, but he's thoughtful and loving". If a relationship begins to go sour, however, couples shift from minimising negative aspects of the marriage to over-emphasizing them: "He drinks far too much, he is almost an alcoholic".
They re-write the past, remembering the failures of their partner, while justifying their own attitudes and preferences. Child custody mediator, Don Saposnek reports that in the more than 4,000 couples he has dealt with, parents always try to justify why they are the better and more deserving of the two. They never admit that perhaps their ex-partner is the better parent and closer to the children.
The fact is that we are all hard wired to justify our actions and reduce dissonance; to lie to ourselves. We create mental blind spots and can see how hypocritical everyone else is, but not ourselves. If we were unable to create such blind spots, we would be driven mad by the remorse and guilt of having made wrong decisions, of having been responsible for others' hurt and of having held foolish beliefs.
Weapons of mass dissonance
Sometimes we have to face the truth. But the more unpleasant the truth, the more difficult it is to acknowledge. On August 26, 2002, Dick Cheney, US Vice President said: "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction." And with this justification the US and its allies invaded Iraq. He was wrong. No such weapons were found.
None of the leaders of the Bush administration have ever admitted they made a mistake. Instead they blamed faulty intelligence collected by the intelligence services. In fact, the CIA had collected intelligence which indicated that Saddam did not have any weapons of mass destruction; however the Bush administration chose to ignore this in favour of evidence which agreed with their firmly held convictions. This phenomenon is known as "Confirmation Bias" (see XAD June 2010, "My mind is made up, don't confuse me with facts").
When the predicted weapons failed to materialise, they found a new justification by asserting how evil Saddam was, and how a "regime change" was a good and necessary action. On January 29, 2010, ex British Prime Minster, Tony Blair, gave a whole day of oral evidence to the Chilcot enquiry about the Iraq war. At the end of questioning he was asked if he had any regrets about key aspects of the Iraq conflict:
THE CHAIRMAN: And no regrets?
RT HON TONY BLAIR: Responsibility, but not a regret (audible gasp from the audience) for removing Saddam Hussein. I think that he was a monster, I believe he threatened, not just the region but the world, and in the circumstances that we faced then, but I think even if you look back now, it was better to deal with this threat, to deal with it, to remove him from office, and I do genuinely believe that the world is safer as a result.
In the entire day of questions and answers, the word "mistake" was used only once, and this was in the context of a "mistake in the future". Self justification complete.
Lao Tzu (ca. 500 B.C.) wrote:
"A great nation is like a great man:
When he makes a mistake, he realizes it.
Having realized it, he admits it.
Having admitted it, he corrects it.
He considers those who point out his faults
as his most benevolent teachers."
by Christine Betterton Jones -BSc. (Zoology), PhD (Parasitology)
Watch Carol Tavris explain dissonance on You Tube (with subtitles in Castellano)
Carol Tavris, Conference. La Ciudad de las Ideas 2009
_______________
Bibliography
Mistakes were Made (but not by me). Why we justify foolish beliefs, bad decisions and hurtful acts. Carol Tavris and Elliott Aronson, 2007. Harcourt books.
Facts.com. Know the Facts - get the source. "Weapons of Mass Destruction" Quotes http://zfacts.com/p/581.html
The Iraq Inquiry - Oral Evidence - Tony Blair http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/media/45139/20100129-blair-final.pdf
Fair Game - My life as a Spy, My betrayal by the White House - Valerie Plame Wilson - Simon and Schuster 2007
