Yes, this is true.
My experience is that, generally speaking, people drift to find a rationale or justification for living the lie and thus suffer no dissonance. That 'B' process is called Modify Existing Beliefs in the link below.
New thought, unfortunately, is often accompanied by old dynamics of justification to ameliorate dissonance.
Muchos Gracias
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: For some ‘truth’ or ‘reality’ can be a very bitter pill. The
: expectation is that upon revelation of the ‘truth’ people will
: immediately become rational and accepting of the truth. I could wish
: that this would happen, but history tells us that regardless of
: demonstrated proof, people will continue to maintain those beliefs
: that are invested with emotional energy. Case in point is Weapons of
: Mass Destruction in Iraq. Of course there were none and the president
: simply lied, and the lie was believed by his supporters. After all,
: no one in their right mind would support someone who lies, so they
: contrive a solution to the riddle which satisfies their stance. In
: this case it was: to establish democracy. People do not, or should I
: say, cannot live in cognitive dissonance (1). Why? Because it hurts!
: Rarely does it invent new thought: unless there is a high cost
: attached. And in this case the high cost would have to be extremely
: severe economic loss across middle class America.
: Example of Cognitive Dissonance and creation of New Thought.
: Assume you will only purchase Ford pickup trucks because that is the
: only truck your kin ever purchased and you were taught that a Dodge
: was a low class truck for those who simply did not know any better.
: So all your life you are a proud owner of Ford trucks and you also
: absolutely detest Dodge. Now one day you are in the market to
: purchase a new truck and you happen to walk by a Dodge dealer and the
: Salesman informs you that because you are the one millionth person to
: walk by that you have the opportunity to purchase a brand new Dodge
: for half the normal purchase price. Guess what? You will purchase the
: Dodge and most likely become a fan of Dodge trucks.
: The above is admittedly rough but it gives you an idea of what is
: necessary to push a person towards ‘inventing new thought’. What does
: all this mean? If the majority of middle class can still pay their
: mortgage, purchase gas for that damn truck and continue to feed the
: kids fast food hamburgers, then there is not likely to be much of a
: change. When the ante is raised then change will occur. A good source
: for understanding this is Erick Erickson (2).
: Nev
: (1) Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance
: “In brief, the theory of cognitive dissonance holds that contradicting
: cognitions serve as a driving force that compels the human mind to
: acquire or invent new thoughts or beliefs, or to modify existing
: beliefs, so as to minimize the amount of dissonance (conflict)
: between cognitions.”
: (2) Reference:
: http://www.oaklandcc.edu/library/subAZ_early_childhood.htm
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