Nathanael Larigaldie
@nathlarigaldie.bsky.social
Postdoc - Cognitive Science (Aarhus)
PhD - Computational Neuroscience (Durham)
#OpenScience
PhD - Computational Neuroscience (Durham)
#OpenScience
But NOT changing one's mind is a strategy of reduction of cognitive dissonance too. Soooo... The study just does not disconfirm 2), yes I agree! But I don't find this to be enough for much rejoicing 😃
November 7, 2025 at 2:38 PM
But NOT changing one's mind is a strategy of reduction of cognitive dissonance too. Soooo... The study just does not disconfirm 2), yes I agree! But I don't find this to be enough for much rejoicing 😃
Also, do note that CDT is vague enough to interpret the study more or less as we want to. The study did not find a mediating effect of the affect on the attitude change. But it doesn't mean anything: according to CDT, changing one's mind is a strategy of reduction of cognitive dissonance
November 7, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Also, do note that CDT is vague enough to interpret the study more or less as we want to. The study did not find a mediating effect of the affect on the attitude change. But it doesn't mean anything: according to CDT, changing one's mind is a strategy of reduction of cognitive dissonance
But does it mean that if we DO find that there is indeed a negative sensation in the specific situation of apparent contradiction, 2) automatically becomes a solid and interesting scientific theory?
November 7, 2025 at 2:38 PM
But does it mean that if we DO find that there is indeed a negative sensation in the specific situation of apparent contradiction, 2) automatically becomes a solid and interesting scientific theory?
Atm, it may seem that those two sentences may be enough to fit 70 years of observations.
Yes, finding that we do NOT have a negative sensation in the specific situation of apparent contradiction would be an absolutely lethal blow to the entire idea
Yes, finding that we do NOT have a negative sensation in the specific situation of apparent contradiction would be an absolutely lethal blow to the entire idea
November 7, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Atm, it may seem that those two sentences may be enough to fit 70 years of observations.
Yes, finding that we do NOT have a negative sensation in the specific situation of apparent contradiction would be an absolutely lethal blow to the entire idea
Yes, finding that we do NOT have a negative sensation in the specific situation of apparent contradiction would be an absolutely lethal blow to the entire idea
But trying to rephrase my point. Let us say 2 things:
1) generally, we tend to avoid negative sensations through behavior or cognition
2) I name "cognitive dissonance" the negative sensation in the specific situation of apparent contradiction.
Absolutely nothing else than that
1) generally, we tend to avoid negative sensations through behavior or cognition
2) I name "cognitive dissonance" the negative sensation in the specific situation of apparent contradiction.
Absolutely nothing else than that
November 7, 2025 at 2:38 PM
But trying to rephrase my point. Let us say 2 things:
1) generally, we tend to avoid negative sensations through behavior or cognition
2) I name "cognitive dissonance" the negative sensation in the specific situation of apparent contradiction.
Absolutely nothing else than that
1) generally, we tend to avoid negative sensations through behavior or cognition
2) I name "cognitive dissonance" the negative sensation in the specific situation of apparent contradiction.
Absolutely nothing else than that
any change in attitude, this has huge implications
November 7, 2025 at 2:38 PM
any change in attitude, this has huge implications
I'd be wondering if we were not overselling it at least a little bit 😃.
Regarding the attitude change, maybe it would be less clear what I'd think in case of non-replication. But I would definitely think it requires more studies, because if deep-thinking about something cannot provoke
Regarding the attitude change, maybe it would be less clear what I'd think in case of non-replication. But I would definitely think it requires more studies, because if deep-thinking about something cannot provoke
November 7, 2025 at 2:38 PM
I'd be wondering if we were not overselling it at least a little bit 😃.
Regarding the attitude change, maybe it would be less clear what I'd think in case of non-replication. But I would definitely think it requires more studies, because if deep-thinking about something cannot provoke
Regarding the attitude change, maybe it would be less clear what I'd think in case of non-replication. But I would definitely think it requires more studies, because if deep-thinking about something cannot provoke
We have all felt the discomfort of holding contradictory information. I don't need 70 years of peer-reviewed studies to know that other human beings have most probably felt sadness at least once in their life. I'd be ok with studies checking that, but if they started coining that "sadness theory"
November 7, 2025 at 2:38 PM
We have all felt the discomfort of holding contradictory information. I don't need 70 years of peer-reviewed studies to know that other human beings have most probably felt sadness at least once in their life. I'd be ok with studies checking that, but if they started coining that "sadness theory"
Which is ok, but it does not feel like a huge win for the field (in the presence or not of alternative theories). Trying to be as honest as possible, I think I would have thought that there was a problem in the way affect is measured or influenced in the study.
November 7, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Which is ok, but it does not feel like a huge win for the field (in the presence or not of alternative theories). Trying to be as honest as possible, I think I would have thought that there was a problem in the way affect is measured or influenced in the study.
as long as it does not propose something specific to it, right? The way I see it, it feels that we took 70 years of research to state "maybe this specific situation where we have negative feelings is just the same as all the other situations where we have negative feelings"
November 7, 2025 at 2:38 PM
as long as it does not propose something specific to it, right? The way I see it, it feels that we took 70 years of research to state "maybe this specific situation where we have negative feelings is just the same as all the other situations where we have negative feelings"
(replying here to not multiply the amount of subthreads) I'm not sure if we disagree because of your first reply here 😃. If you do agree that negative feelings/sensations in general obviously motivate to do something - anything -, then CDT IS just coining the term in specific situations
November 7, 2025 at 2:38 PM
(replying here to not multiply the amount of subthreads) I'm not sure if we disagree because of your first reply here 😃. If you do agree that negative feelings/sensations in general obviously motivate to do something - anything -, then CDT IS just coining the term in specific situations
implication, then all it does is give a name to that feeling. Don't you find obvious that feeling pain will probably motivate you to do or think something to avoid or reduce it? If you do, remember that you did not need "Pain reduction theory" to know that
November 7, 2025 at 12:35 PM
implication, then all it does is give a name to that feeling. Don't you find obvious that feeling pain will probably motivate you to do or think something to avoid or reduce it? If you do, remember that you did not need "Pain reduction theory" to know that
avoid or reduce it on average (whether the strategy is successful or not). If one feels sadness, that will motivate one to do or think something to avoid or reduce it on average. If all cognitive dissonance theory does is name the unpleasant feeling in a specific situation but has no specific
November 7, 2025 at 12:35 PM
avoid or reduce it on average (whether the strategy is successful or not). If one feels sadness, that will motivate one to do or think something to avoid or reduce it on average. If all cognitive dissonance theory does is name the unpleasant feeling in a specific situation but has no specific
I mean the observation that we can display an entire spectrum of behavior or cognition to avoid unpleasant sensations or feelings is absolutely not specific to cognitive dissonance. It is in that sense that I find it obvious. If one feels pain, that will motivate one to do or think something to
November 7, 2025 at 12:35 PM
I mean the observation that we can display an entire spectrum of behavior or cognition to avoid unpleasant sensations or feelings is absolutely not specific to cognitive dissonance. It is in that sense that I find it obvious. If one feels pain, that will motivate one to do or think something to
I'm pretty confident that those have in fact been documented for millennia. The question as to what Cognitive Dissonance Theory has specifically brought into light and been useful for - apart from coining a convenient term - is raised, isn't it?
November 7, 2025 at 12:19 PM
I'm pretty confident that those have in fact been documented for millennia. The question as to what Cognitive Dissonance Theory has specifically brought into light and been useful for - apart from coining a convenient term - is raised, isn't it?
Yes, but I'm pretty sure that we did not wait the 1950s to realize that it's generally unpleasant to realize you might be wrong about something, and that thinking long and hard about a position contrary to your views might lead people, on average, to at least slightly changed their minds
November 7, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Yes, but I'm pretty sure that we did not wait the 1950s to realize that it's generally unpleasant to realize you might be wrong about something, and that thinking long and hard about a position contrary to your views might lead people, on average, to at least slightly changed their minds
Unfortunately I don't think I know of such a resource 😬. Even recent Psych textbooks often include lots of unreplicated results afaik. It would certainly be good to have indeed!
November 7, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Unfortunately I don't think I know of such a resource 😬. Even recent Psych textbooks often include lots of unreplicated results afaik. It would certainly be good to have indeed!
I'm not, and I think it could be important. Right now, I feel we only have the author's word regarding the content of the archive, which could be rather flimsy evidence
November 6, 2025 at 7:19 PM
I'm not, and I think it could be important. Right now, I feel we only have the author's word regarding the content of the archive, which could be rather flimsy evidence
Je suis piédestalophobe. J'y peux rien, dès que j'en vois un, faut que je tape dedans jusqu'à ce qu'il s'écroule
November 6, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Je suis piédestalophobe. J'y peux rien, dès que j'en vois un, faut que je tape dedans jusqu'à ce qu'il s'écroule
Thanks a lot for the example and the paper, I'll give it read!
November 6, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Thanks a lot for the example and the paper, I'll give it read!
So I'm quite unsure. But I'm not an expert in cognitive dissonance (nor even in social psychology), so I'm happy to see important counterexamples!
November 6, 2025 at 1:32 PM
So I'm quite unsure. But I'm not an expert in cognitive dissonance (nor even in social psychology), so I'm happy to see important counterexamples!