How many times do you watch TV, play video games, or go on social media when you should be doing schoolwork?
I'm going to assume that the answer is a lot, and if you are anything like me, then each time you catch yourself doing this, you tell yourself, "Oh it's okay I'll start my work after just ten more minutes or one more level." This is a prime example of cognitive dissonance because students constantly procrastinate and make up reasons to convince themselves why it is okay.
Nobody wants to think poorly of themselves!
No student wants to think of themselves as lazy or useless when it comes to doing homework. People like to have a positive image of themselves and consider themselves successful in life, and the theory of cognitive dissonance plays right into this desire. With cognitive dissonance, we can rationalize any of the lazy things we do to be reasonable since we had a hard day or needed to relax. It allows us to take any course of action and then create the reasoning later for why it was necessary to do at the time.
Some instances of cognitive dissonance are not as harmless as procrastination of homework.
As discussed in the book, cognitive dissonance explains the reasoning for college students putting up with hazing in order to join a fraternity or sorority (such as in the movie Animal House shown here). Young people crave acceptance, especially in the social scene in college. As a result of this, they are will to continue going through the traditional hazings of Greek Life year after year in order to take part in the social aspect, specifically parties.
So, why do students not take a stand to change this unenjoyable tradition?
The reason is simple. We are accepting of the traditions and actions of people around us that we view as our peers and equals. People feel intimidated by old customs because they do not want to be the first to go against the norm. This intimidation leads to it being easier to just accept the hazing and rationalize with yourself later that it is just something you had to do in order to be accepted in the social scene of the fraternity or sorority. In this type of situation, cognitive dissonance is linked to "peer pressure."
Uncertainty leads to cognitive dissonance.
The environments that hazing is common in include the military, fraternities, and sports teams. One thing that each of these have in common is that the new members do not know what to expect. This uncertainty and unknowing of what they have coming to them and how it compares to what their superiors went through can lead to a more accepting attitude toward hazing. When a new pledge arrives, he does not know what the normal process is and whether or not his future brothers already endured exactly the same hazing that they are putting him through. Because of this lack of knowledge, pledges are inclined to not argue with the brothers because they do not know how the process is supposed to go.
Even when students take a stand against hazing, it happens more often after the fact.
At my high school, there was a hazing incident involving the varsity lacrosse team that blew up when two of the hazed individuals came forward and reported it. At the time of the hazing, which consisted of shaving inappropriate designs into the new players' heads, all the members of the team cooperated without complaint. Peer pressure and the factor of uncertainty discussed above played a part in the new players going along with the routine. Following the haircuts, cognitive dissonance did not affect all of the new players in the ways discussed so far in this post. Two of the hazed individuals rationalized the situation which they had originally accepted and realized that it had been wrong. They took the case to school officials and the senior captains were promptly kicked off the team.
This is only one example, but it shows that cognitive dissonance does not control every hazing situation. The biggest factor with hazing is not that people justify the actions as being necessary to get accepted within the group; rather, the most important thing is how strong the character of the hazed individual is and whether they are able to stand up to what they must know is wrong deep inside.
As Connor mentions at the start of his post cognitive dissonance is when we act first and then rationalize or create reasons for our behavior afterward in order to fit our actions into our self-perceived notions of who we are. Connor does a good job of relating cognitive dissonance to the act of hazing in college Greek Life, sports teams, and the military. I agree with all that he said but when it comes why students do not change the tradition of hazing I have a different opinion. While I agree with the fact that peer pressure, and the fact of not knowing whether or not everyone else has gone through the same thing plays a role, I believe the answer is different. I believe that once people have been hazed they seek revenge, and the way they get revenge is by hazing new comers to their group, organization, team, etc. I think that it is a never ending cycle once it begins because no one will put up with being hazed without the possibility of being able to change roles and being the one who does the hazing.
ReplyDeleteI thought you did a great job explaining what cognitive dissonance is and giving real life examples. I believe that while peer pressure does play a major role in acting before thinking, I also believe that a person's moral values play an even bigger role in decision making. In your example, you mentioned that all the players in the lacrosse team shaved inappropriate parts into their heads. Although peer pressure does play a role into why the young players shaved their heads, a person's belief of what is right and wrong can overpower peer pressure. I also disagree with the Kevin's comment above. I don't believe that it is revenge that causes hazing, but rather peer pressure. I don't believe that people want to hurt or embarrass other people. Instead, peers influence people to haze younger players, pledges, or officers. Thus, revenge is not what motivates people to haze other people, but one's moral code triumphs over both peer pressure and revenge.
ReplyDeleteThis might be one of my favorite posts because I could relate to everything that I was reading. I always catch myself saying I will do my homework after I visit YouTube or go on one of my social network sites. However sometimes I lose track of time and may have been distracted from my work for over an hour. I strongly agree when you said “we can rationalize any of the lazy things we do to be reasonable since we had a hard day or needed to relax.” I find myself doing this often to, I would not say it is a bad thing because usually if you are giving yourself any reason to be lazy it is probably the result of working hard beforehand. I liked the example of college students putting up with hazing just to feel accepted. Sometimes people may put up with the most unnecessary things just because they know it has to be done sort of like going to work everyday.
ReplyDeleteYou did a really good job of defining cognitive dissonance and how it relates to every day life. This is something every college student participates in whether they realize it or not. I was interested in how you connected it to hazing in athletics and frats. It's something many people, especially in college, can relate to because many people witness or participate in it and don't say anything because "that's just how college is", which comes full circle with the idea of cognitive dissonance. The only critique I really have with your post is the second subheading was a little too vague and there was a grammatical error (willing not will). But other than that it was great!
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