Cognitive Psychology Commons^™

Cognitive Dissonance Within The Realm Of Implicit Bias, Shelby Luptak

Undergraduate Research Conference

According to research professors from Harvard University, one’s individual actions will affect his fundamental preferences or beliefs. This is in compliance to cognitive dissonance theory, which posits that an “individual experiences a mental discomfort after taking an action that seems to be in conflict with his or her starting attitude” (Acharya, Blackwell, & Sen, p. 2) Individuals will then choose to subconsciously change their attitudes or beliefs to “conform more closely with their actions” (Acharya et al., p. 2). In other words, from a starting attitude, one makes the decision to engage in contradictory behavior, which results in a change …