Given that I am just returning from a week in Los Angeles, is it really any wonder that an article on cognitive dissonance would catch my eye?
For those of you unfamiliar with the term, (like me until 15 minutes ago), it refers to the rather curious habit that we humans have of rationalizing our irrational behavior. Why we'll wear something uncomfortable because we think it looks good, why we'll say we want something publicly that we wouldn't touch privately, or why some of us will quote Inconvenient Truth line by line and then put it on repeat in the headrest of our Hummers....
It's all one big "Cognitive Diss" isn't it?
Well thanks to this article from the New York Times, we can now boast that while we humans can be completely self delusional at times...
...at least we share that self delusion with 4 year old monkeys from Yale.
(Ok, bit of a weak post after a 2 month hiatus, but at least I invented a new term.)
"Cognitive Dissing"???
That's just gold, Jerry.
And you all know it.
That's the beauty of our society - I would say more so these days - engage in behaviour that conflicts with your beliefs or tell people to no end your beliefs and (within routine) engage in the opposite behaviour.
A lovely cycle.
Posted by: Mike Laba | November 21, 2007 at 09:42 AM