18.01.193.20231102 CognitiveDissonance

The International Journal of Indian Psychology

ISSN 2348-5396 (Online) | ISSN: 2349-3429 (Print)

Volume 11, Issue 2, April- June, 2023
DIP: 18.01.193.20231102, DOI: 10.25215/1102.193
https://www.ijip.in
Research Paper
Studying the Trends of Cognitive Dissonance in Young Adults in

Indian Context
Aadhithyan TS1*
ABSTRACT
Purpose: This paper aims at understanding, measuring and analyzing the cognitive
dissonance and the impact that it has on the young-adults from the age of 18 to 25. It is
focused on giving an Indian context to the topic based on 5 different spheres of a Gen-Z
person – personal relationship, academic environment, professional working environment,
health and nutrition, and personal life thoughts/functioning. Design/Methodology/‌
Approach‌: ‌Around 105 participants from the age of 18 to 25 (Gen-Z cluster from the
population) were selected and asked to fill a cognitive dissonance questionnaire that included
statements in the form of situations from their day-to-day lives. They were asked to answer
each question by selecting one option off the 5-point Likert scale and the data, along with
certain pieces of literatures (such as research papers, articles, journals, etc.) were analyzed.
Findings: Through the study, we can see that there is an increased presence of dissonance
amongst the Gen-Z community and that there is a higher rate or intensity of dissonance in the
young-adults along the spheres of academic environments and health & nutrition with an
average rate of 77% and 75% respectively. Practical Implications/Recommendations: The
findings from this study can be used to understand the behavior of Indian young-adults from
a modern 2023 context and can also help in converting the theoretical findings into a practical
model that can be used for personality upliftment, academic and work motivation or
satisfaction, mental health wellbeing, etc.
Keywords: Cognitive Dissonance, Personal Relationships, Academic Environment, Professional

Working Environment, Health and Nutrition, Personal Life Thoughts/Functioning
An overarching youth problem – not just in India

India has almost 50% of its population below 25 years old, which is almost the equivalent of
100% of most country’s population. While 41.5% of the youth want to be happy, the
proportion of those who know the methods to condition their mind in the right way is
comparatively less. There is where cognitive dissonance plays a massive important role. To
understand the youth is equivalent to understand the community’s progress. Over 10% of the
youth population in the world are suffering from stress because of academics, 59% suffer
due to household activities, and more such facts are all due to concepts such as Dissonance
and Cognitive Dissonance.
1
Department of Social Sciences School of Liberal Studies, Pandit Deendayal Energy University Gandhinagar,
Gujrat (India)
*Corresponding Author
Received: ; Revision Received: ; Accepted:
© 2023, Aadhithyan, TS.; licensee IJIP. This is an Open Access Research distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any Medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Studying the Trends of Cognitive Dissonance in Young Adults in Indian Context
While dissonance is an overall understanding of when two or more factors of the

environment (either internal or external relative to a person) clashes with each other,
cognitive dissonance is focused more on the psychological aspect with regards to cognition.
Cognitive dissonance in the feeling of unease or discomfort that a person feels when their
behavior, thoughts, actions, etc. do not align with their beliefs or values or base thought. It
can occur when a person holds contradictory thoughts in their mind at the same time.
For instance, a chain-smoker would continue to smoke despite knowing the harmful effects
of smoking and would even profess to not smoke despite being a smoker himself. This
happens from a young age in human and is seen in all environments, professional to
personal.
History of Cognitive Dissonance Theory

There have been multiple researches about the theories and understanding of cognitive
dissonance. The first known understanding of cognitive dissonance was stated almost as
back as 60 or more years ago in Leon Festinger's A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance
(Festinger, 1962). Festinger postulated that pairs of cognition (elements of knowledge) can
be relevant or irrelevant to one another. Causes of dissonance can occur when opposite
thoughts, in lay man's terms, contradict one another. Hence to give an objective to
dissonance we can say that there is an existence of discrepancy between two thoughts. And
something has to be done to remove it to accommodate the two thoughts or one particular
thought of the two or more contradicting patterns of thought. People seek consistency, and
want to be in line with the values and beliefs that they believe is right. (Hogg & Vaughan,
2005). Comfort can only arise when things are aligned with what people think is right for
them and is in line with their vision.
Following in his theory of cognitive dissonance theory (CDT), Festinger states that
cognition refers to any form knowledge, opinion or belief, about someone or something in
an environment. Irrelevance is when the thoughts have no effects on one another and can
remain independently stored in the memory. Consonance and dissonance of cognitions deals
with whether or not the thoughts or actions are in line or not. While consonants can be one
cognitive element, thought, action or value following another in harmony or mutual
betterment, dissonant can be the opposite of one cognition following the other. Dissonant
inadvertently causes psychological discomfort, and the greater the magnitude of dissonance
greater is the pressure to reduce the pressure caused by the dissonance.
(Fig.1: The Cognitive Dissonance Theory (CDT) by Leon Festinger) (Gaya, 2017)
© The International Journal of Indian Psychology, ISSN 2348-5396 (e)| ISSN: 2349-3429 (p) | 111
After a lot of reiterations and re-writing the theory of cognitive dissonance has new shapes
and understanding such as Cooper & Fazio (Cooper & Fazio, 1984) who proposed the idea
that the discomfort experienced in dissonance experiments was not due to an inconsistency
between the individual's cognition, but rather to feeling personally responsible for producing
an aversive consequence. They stated, “Dissonance has precious little to do with the
inconsistency among cognitions per se, but rather with the production of a consequence that
is unwanted” (Cooper & Fazio, 1984). Apart from just understanding about the different
thoughts and actions, there was also cognitive dissonance in attitude change, and works also
in understanding the social elements of environment.
Social psychology has understood different theories that have a sound base of dissonance.
Elliot Aronson (Aronson, 1969) gave an insight that a number of social psychological
theories, such as self-affirmation theory and guilt, could be thought of as different forms of
dissonance. In addition to this, much research and theory concerned with guilt (Baumeister,
Stillwell, & Heatherton, 1994)) and self-regulation could be understood from the perspective
of dissonance. Incorporation of the key variables and past research of dissonance theory into
these and other research enterprises will likely benefit and lead to a more cumulative
psychological theories surrounding dissonance and sociology. The study of dissonance and
the theories that followed were developed to understanding human tendencies and nature in
psychology and sociological constructs. Cognitive dissonance theory is not just used in
researches underlying social psychology but also in the approaches used to explain social
behaviors. Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory (CDT) has been frequently applied to the
social science literature to explain and predict the motivational nature of dissonance in
producing attitude and behavior change in decision making and the broader social
community context. (Hinojosa, Gardner, Walker, & Cogliser, 2017)
This particular paper tries to understand the different social elements of a young-adult, or the
population who belong to the Gen-Z category (those whose birth years are from 1997 to
2013). The elements include dissonance in relationships, academic environments (such as
schools, institutions, universities, etc.), professional working environments, health and
nutrition and personal life mindset. The paper also focuses on understanding the same in an
Indian context, shedding more light into the why’s for Indian young-adults.
Statement of the problem

Understanding the ways to measure dissonance in young-adults is of vital importance as it
can play a major role in shaping the different spheres surrounding one’s daily life.
Experiments and research on dissonance have been extensively around socio-cultural
lifestyle of a larger population, mostly in a country-based population or a specific academic
or social orientation. Even though the study of cognitive dissonance is done on a larger scale
with a few experiments dealing with precisely selected population, no research on the
dissonance of Indian population has ever been done. This study aims at addressing the gap
in the literature by providing a basic criteria analysis of cognitive dissonance that contributes
to a young-adult’s daily life.
Objectives of the study

1. Understanding the level cognitive dissonance and/or intensity of dissonance in a
young- adult’s life
2. Identifying the factor of a young-adult’s life that involves the most dissonant and the
most consonants
3. Providing insight into the behavior and actions of a young-adult based on internal or
external environmental cues
4. Contributing to the social welfare and developmental schemes of teenagers and
young- adults in schools, universities, institutes, homes/houses, etc.
5. Contributing to the continuing discussion and research on the topics of cognitive
dissonance
Hypothesis (Cognitive Dissonance)

Since the study deals with the measurement of dissonance in 5 different spheres of a young-
adult, the objective of the hypothesis to understand the significance of the dissonance factor
in each factor or spheres. Hence the Hypothesis would be:
Null Hypothesis
There is no significantly higher number of dissonances measured in the young-adult’s life
across all 5 spheres.
Alternate Hypothesis
There is significantly higher number of dissonances measured in the young-adult’s life
across all 5 spheres.
METHODOLOGY
The approach to the study was based on data collection and reviewing of prior published
pieces of literature done in a meticulous manner. The methodology is as follows:
1. Firstly, a meticulous understanding of the topic was done through literary review of
research papers, journals and articles, national health and/or educational websites,
etc. that were published based on the study at hand.
2. The findings and the theories connected to the study were noted as the data
collection process was started by understanding the core variables, scales and sub-
scales of the topic.
3. The questionnaire created included questions of all 5 spheres – personal
relationships, academic environment, professional/working environment, health and
nutrition, & personal life thoughts.
4. The sampling technique used in the following study is Clustered Sampling technique
and the sample (cluster) was chosen to be young-adults or Gen-Z individuals who are
of the ages of 18-25. The data was collected through a virtual mode and the
questionnaire was sent out to the respective cluster through virtual mediums.
5. The questionnaire included qualitative questions that included statements which was
formatted in lay man’s terms and the statements were made simple for the
participants.
6. to be comfortable putting themselves into the shoes of the situation given by the
statement.
7. The data was then collated, and then analyzed to get the final results and understand
the measurement of cognitive dissonance in the Gen-Z cluster.
Research of the different spheres surrounding a young-adult

To start off with, from a developmental point of view, taking pointers from Erikson’s
developmental theory we can see that he postulated that adulthood constitutes one of the
critical stages in development. Based on the same, we can arrive at a modern understanding
(in Indian context) that there are 5 major sub-scales or qualities or spheres of a young-
adult’s life that is being measured in this study. Each of the sphere are integral part to a
young person’s mental health, capacity and understanding and diving deeper into what are
the major causes of the dissonance and which factor holds the maximum dissonance in Gen-
Z individuals is important to note and analyze.
Personal Relationships
One of the key social factors of a Gen-Z person is the relationship with the peers, partners,
friends, parents, etc. Personal relationships for young-adults are synonymous to unexplored
waters for them. It is not just about understanding the emotional quotient that bonds two or
more people but also the appropriate use of emotional intelligence. Individuals who lack
experience or training face more cognitive dissonance due to the presence of uncomfortable
environment (Ramaswami & Saravanakumar, 2017). Emotions not just help in the
relationship boosting but also in the learning capabilities of an individual. Since cognitive
dissonance can lead to emotional states that are caused by the clashing of polar opposite
thoughts, actions or beliefs, it is proven that the inconsistency between the thought
components may motivate people to engage in actions that will help minimize that pressure
(Al-Adamat & Atoum, 2022). This base concept is also true for relationships where
conflicting or polar opposite thoughts can lead to unnecessary consequences or dissonance
in the relationship, leading to actions – either positive or negative – which will help in
reducing the dissonance faced. In different words, disharmony can be reduced when one
feels accountable for bringing knowledge into inconsistent or incompatible relationships,
this idea also suggests personal responsibility (Wicklund & Brehm, 1976).
Academic Environments
Different environmental cues, both on offices or schools, have different stimuli that trigger
thoughts, activities, etc. that are dissonant or consonant. Various researches have been put
into understanding cognitive dissonance in the classroom, of schools and colleges and have
also played a vital role in understanding values such as hypocrisy and honesty. Cognitive
dissonance is seen as an approach for instructors to address and solve issues regarding
classroom discipline, cheating and hypocrisy. Since dissonance brings about the need to
maintain consistency in the actions or beliefs, students undergo an attitude change which
involves them getting into activities such as cheating and hypocrisy (Goldenowicz, 2014).
Researches on classroom experience based on cognitive dissonance is also a prevalent field
of cognitive studies in the educational sector. Taking one particular type of academic factor
– namely the process of learning something new - (Bowman & Brendenberger, 2012) re-
conceptualized the college experience to be a context with the potential of creating change
in an individual at a basic or conceptual level due to exposure to new & unfamiliar fields or
terrain. By exploring new ways of thinking, beliefs, and values, individuals have the
opportunity to review their own, and form their unique, more sophisticated perspectives,
contributing to the overarching and their own personal conceptual development.
Professional Working Environments

As far as we have read, we can understand that polar opposite consonants can lead to
dissonance. The examples of the same under a professional working environment is seen at a
large number, due to existence of workplace conflict management, HR management styles,
management theories, and various organizational theories and/or working styles. A research
based on understanding cognitive dissonance antecedents and workplace effects by Shah
(Shah & Lacaze, 2020) process that cognitive dissonance is induced in an employee when
the employee faces feelings of role ambiguity and role conflicts. Psychological discomfort
on all levels of hierarchy, be it on the same level, above or below, are all dissonance
inducing factors in a working environment. Ethical conflicts and burnouts (mentally and
physically) are all also factors of dissonance that can lead to negative effects in the
functioning of a company or organization.
Health & Nutrition

The potential application of cognitive dissonance to eating/food attitude and behavior may
be taken from the writings of some food or nutrition researchers. In a study of consumers of
organic food products, (Hjelmar, 2011) reported that respondents expressed the view that
television documentaries can be so unpleasant that they make you change your behavior
instantly; you simply cannot continue to eat conventional pork after having seen how pigs
are treated, leading him to suggest that reflexive shopping practices can be sparked by life
events (e.g., having children), shocking news about conventional food products and similar
events, and news capable of creating a cognitive dissonance among consumers. The study of
cognitive dissonance related to eating/food attitudes and behaviors in the food and nutrition
domain has been relatively under-developed, particularly with respect to influencing healthy
food behaviors in the area of public health.
Personal Thinking and Functioning/Life Thoughts

This is fairly easy to understand for a young-adult but difficult to measure through another
person’s point of view. The mind has a vast region of explorable potential and with
technological and neurological developments it is easier to understand the different thought
processes and how to use them for the betterment of people going through pressure and
stress. For a young-adult, there are various stressor and various questions that takes place in
the mind and these are tend to cause internal conflicts, confusions and questions, leading to
dissonance in the thoughts themselves, hence making it invaluable to measure and
understand.
Brief description of the tool used

One of the key limitations of this study was that there was no availability of simple
standardized tools for testing cognitive dissonance through situational (statement) based
questions. This became an imperative point in this study hence the tool was developed solely
for this study purpose only. This tool included the following:
Table 1: Tool Description for the Cognitive Dissonance study

#. Factor No. of Items
1 Dissonance in Relationships 5
2 Dissonance in Academic Environments 5
3 Dissonance in Professional Working Environments 5
4 Dissonance in Health and Nutrition 5
5 Dissonance in Individual Life or Personal Thoughts 5
Data Collected
Demographics
Based on the data that is collected, the gender distribution is as follows:
Table 2: Gender distribution in the study responses

Male Female Others Unlisted Total
Number 42 63 1 0 106
%age. 39.62% 59.4% 0.9% 0 100%
Based on the data that is collected, the age frequency is as follows:
Table 3: Age distribution in the study responses

18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Unliste Total
d
Frequency 13 25 35 17 10 2 1 2 1 106
%age. 12.22 23.58 33.01 16.03 9.4% 1.8% 0.9% 1.8% 0.9% 100%
% % % %
RESULT
The mean and the standard deviation of the generated responses and data are as follows:
Table 4: Mean & Standard Deviation of the collated data

#. Factor Measurement
1 Mean 77.24
2 Standard Deviation 9.57
From the data analysis we can see that the mean is 77.24, and can be used as the mean score
for comparison. Since the aim of the paper is to understand the effect of cognitive
dissonance in different people of the Gen-Z category we will also take the range of
measurement to better understand the sub-cluster in which they fall under.
Table 5: Range of dissonance measurement based on scores

Range Type Range
Lower Dissonance <70
Average Dissonance 71 to 80
Higher Dissonance >80
With the above range in mind, we can arrive at the frequency of the participants in each sub
cluster of dissonance –
Table 6: Frequency distribution of sub-cluster categories

Range Type Frequency
Lower Dissonance 25
Average Dissonance 40
Higher Dissonance 41
Since we are also dealing with individual spheres of a young-adult’s life and seeing the
dissonance in each of them as well, the analysis and results of the same was taken after the
conductance of the ANOVA test.
Table 7.1 & 7.2: ANOVA test results and f ratio calculation
The f-ratio value is 58.81455. The p-value is <0.0001. The result is significant at p<.05.
We can also see the frequency of the number of people falling in the different sub-cluster
categories even in the individual spheres as well.
Table 8.1: Frequency distribution of Personal Relations

Range Type Range Frequency Percentage
Lower Dissonance 5 – 11 50 47.16%
Average Dissonance 12 – 18 50 47.16%
Higher Dissonance 19 – 25 6 5.66%
Table 8.2: Frequency distribution academic environments

Table 8.3: Frequency distribution of working professional environments

Lower Dissonance 5 – 11 0 0%
Table 8.4: Frequency distribution of health and nutrition

Table 8.5: Frequency distribution of personal life thoughts or functioning

DISCUSSION
Based on the above findings, we can understand that dissonance all 5 spheres of a young-
adult have factors of dissonance and exists between being moderately present or highly
present in the minds of a Gen-Z individual. The Quantitative Analysis involved using
decretive statistics like mean and standard deviation. And the one-way test of ANOVA
(Analysis of Variance). ANOVA is used to test differences among the means of the
population by examining the amount of variation within each sample relative to the amount
of variation between the samples. Since there are 5 distinct spheres, and 5 distinct values
given by the participants ANOVA test seemed the most appropriate for this study.
We can see from the above that:

1. The average propensity for having dissonance amongst individuals of the Gen-Z
cluster is either moderate or high in intensity.
2. While spheres such as personal relations do not seem to have a higher dissonance
causing effect, spheres such as academics and work environment, health and
nutrition and personal life functioning are all proof that moderate to high
levels/intensity of dissonance is present in young-adults whilst interacting with
elements of that sphere or environment.
3. The two most prominent dissonance causing spheres are of:
a. Academic Environment (an average of 77%)
b. Health and Nutrition (an average of 75%)
4. This can suggest that a young-adult is most faced with unease and discomfort along
the lines of academic performance, health and nutrition and related issues. This can
cause positive or negative effects in the spheres surrounding the person.
5. There is a significance in the result, since the p value is lower than .05, which shows
that the results are significant. There is a significant difference between the cognitive
dissonances seen in all the 5 different spheres.
6. This proves the alternate hypothesis that there is a significant different when the
overall overarching 5 spheres of a young-adult’s life is seen.
Suggestions
Even though the study was done through a meticulous method, there are more suggestions
that can be added to the study to make it more effective on a long-term basis.
a) Usage of more standardized tools through exploratory and interdisciplinary studies.
b) Development of new standardized psychometric tools that is focused towards young-
adults and measuring cognitive dissonance.
c) Diving deeper into age based and gender-based dissonance studies amongst students
in schools and colleges.
d) Diving deeper into studying the trends of cognitive dissonance in the health and
nutrition sector, and the underlying consumer behavior of various food items.
e) Developing newer models of dissonance focused more on learning and development
and curating the same for practical applications in schools and collages through
curriculums and schooling.
Limitations
a) Since the study was done based on a personal questionnaire, there was no availability
of standardized questionnaire for testing and conducting the study.
b) There was no age distribution control done through the study, hence there may be
discrepancies in the data analysis based on the gender distribution.
c) There may be various differences based on the Indian population and can have
various different factors apart from the spheres or factors that are researched on
currently.
CONCLUSION
Cognitive dissonance is an everyday effect that a person of any age faces in almost all of
his/her/their everyday activities. This study helps us understand the different ways to
identify the dissonant in a young-adult’s life and how it is differing with an Indian context.
This can help in adding on to the overall quality of life that a Gen-Z citizen can have and is
also open for more research-based opportunities.
I have analyzed and arrived at a conclusion that there are various factors that can prove that
dissonant do occur in large or moderate intensity in a young person’s life and the significant
difference in the scores approves the Alternate Hypothesis.
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Acknowledgement
The author(s) appreciates all those who participated in the study and helped to facilitate the
research process.
Conflict of Interest
The author(s) declared no conflict of interest.
How to cite this article: Aadhithyan, TS. (2023). Studying the Trends of Cognitive
Dissonance in Young Adults in Indian Context. International Journal of Indian Psychology,
11(2), ‌110-130. DIP:18.01.193.20231102, DOI:10.25215/1102.193

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The International Journal of Indian Psychology

ISSN 2348-5396 (Online) | ISSN: 2349-3429 (Print)

Studying the Trends of Cognitive Dissonance in Young Adults in

Keywords: Cognitive Dissonance, Personal Relationships, Academic Environment, Professional

An overarching youth problem – not just in India

While dissonance is an overall understanding of when two or more factors of the

History of Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Statement of the problem

Objectives of the study

Hypothesis (Cognitive Dissonance)

Research of the different spheres surrounding a young-adult

Professional Working Environments

Health & Nutrition

Personal Thinking and Functioning/Life Thoughts

Brief description of the tool used

Table 1: Tool Description for the Cognitive Dissonance study

Table 2: Gender distribution in the study responses

Based on the data that is collected, the age frequency is as follows:

Table 3: Age distribution in the study responses

Table 4: Mean & Standard Deviation of the collated data

Table 5: Range of dissonance measurement based on scores

Table 6: Frequency distribution of sub-cluster categories

Table 8.1: Frequency distribution of Personal Relations

Table 8.2: Frequency distribution academic environments

Higher Dissonance 19 – 25 21 19.81%

Table 8.3: Frequency distribution of working professional environments

Table 8.4: Frequency distribution of health and nutrition

Table 8.5: Frequency distribution of personal life thoughts or functioning

We can see from the above that:

Hjelmar, U. (2011). Consumers' purchase of organic food products. A matter of convenience

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