We all have our own beliefs, whether they be moral, religious, or personal. But what do we do when something suggests that a certain belief of ours isn't quite what it seems? If this suggestion is ridiculous, it's easy to brush it aside. Our minds has the capability to sort through a lot of these suggestions, and often times the things that oppose our thoughts, are swept away by our subconscious. You see, once you have a certain perception of something, it's difficult for us to accept that this may not be true anymore. For example, for most of my life, I was told that Pluto was a planet. That is what I was taught, and so that is what I believed. Nobody ever told me otherwise, until 2006, when we were suddenly informed that it wasn't. Although this didn't have much of an effect on my every day life, I found it difficult to accept the fact that what I always believed to be a planet, wasn't anymore. My cognitive dissonance was getting the best of me. While I consciously decided that I couldn't argue with the science, I subconsciously struggled to mentally switch this fact over in my head. I'm 20 years old now, and I've faced moral, political, and religious cognitive dissonance, but I've learned how to face it, and make it into a positive experience rather than a frustrating one.
Facing our cognitive dissonance may be the most effective way of furthering our knowledge about the world, and becoming less ignorant. If we can build our knowledge about simple concepts, while leaving those false ideas that we once believed to be true, we can help others do the same, and better our understanding of the world around us.
A man was homeschooled in a household that strictly believed in the Biblical creation story. He believes this story wholeheartedly, because it all he has ever known. Sure, the idea of evolution has come up once or twice, but he had quickly rejected the idea of it being true. He knows that other ideas of how humans came to be exist, but because he was never informed about the basic concepts and details, they are not realistic to him. One day, he sits down, and it presented with a portfolio filled with the scientific evidence behind evolution. It is all professionally done, with well thought out essays and essentially the proof the evolution existed. Inside of his head, he is pushing this away. His cognitive dissonance is apparent, as his mind races to try to find a way to convince himself that this is not true. He has two choices. He can either accept that what he always believed was never the truth, or he can ignore the facts, and continue to live his life with his previous beliefs, subconsciously questioning his potential ignorance.
Here's the truth. Whichever choice he makes, he's not going to face any sort of scientific enlightenment. He's either going to stay uninformed, or he's slowly going to realize that he is now more aware of the world. I used this example because it explains cognitive dissonance the best, but it's not a life-changing scenario.
A more realistic one would be a person who eats "healthily", but consumes nothing but food that read "low fat", "low sugar", or "diet". This person might be happy in their choices, believing that they are making healthy choices, when in reality, they're filling their bodies with artificial sugar, empty carbs, and food that essentially has no nutritional value. For an average person, this lifestyle might be okay for a while. But for an unhealthy or obese person, this mistake could lead to significant health problems. Even if you let them know that their choices are unhealthy, they will be in denial until the facts are presented, because as humans, our brains find it difficult to accept the fact that what they once believed, is no longer, or never was true. Cognitive dissonance leads to more ignorance, and the faster we move past our denial and accept that we were, or are wrong about something, the faster we can share our newfound knowledge with other people.
There is nothing wrong with being misinformed about certain topics or beliefs. The problems begin when we allow ourselves to continue to be misinformed, and share this beliefs with other ignorance people, even after we have been proven wrong. Pushing past our cognitive dissonance and denial is essential. The world is constantly changing. What we think we know for sure, may not be so. As long as we can accept the fact that the "truth" changes, we will be able to better adapt to our world, and the possibilities that continue to present themselves to us.
