Cognitive dissonance describes the psychological discomfort

Position 1: Understanding these mechanisms has proved valuable in health communication, where campaigns must account for the ways people rationalise unhealthy behaviour.

Position 2: Leon Festinger first introduced the concept in 1957, demonstrating through experiments that people are strongly motivated to resolve such internal inconsistency.

Position 3: Alternatively, individuals may seek new information that supports their existing belief while dismissing evidence that challenges it, a behaviour known as confirmation bias.

Position 4: Cognitive dissonance describes the psychological discomfort a person experiences when holding two contradictory beliefs simultaneously.

Position 5: One common strategy is to change one of the conflicting beliefs to align with the other, thereby restoring a sense of mental harmony.