Cognitive Dissonance Concept
The expression Cognitive Dissonance designates a theory proposed in the twentieth century decade of 50 by Leon Festinger and refers to the inconsistency that someone can have between two attitudes or between a behavior and an attitude. For example, if a person considers as very important honesty (attitude) but on certain day pretends to be sick before the employer but in fact will assist to soccer game (behavior), this person will experience a cognitive discord. According to Festinger, people search for a status where they feel the minimum possible of cognitive discord. To reach that status people can choose from four possibilities: adapting their behavior to their attitudes; reduce the significance given to behavior; change attitude; search for compensation elements for behaviors.