This piece from the Financial Times stuck me as I had been thinking about the Cognitive Dissidence in SCT. What grabbed my attention was how inner conflicts result in self justification that become a source of energy to continue doing something we know is stupid.
Marian Keech is like Jedi Jack because both have all the answers. Jack should also use this title in his book...
Mistakes Were Made (but not by me)
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In their fascinating book, Mistakes Were Made (but not by me) , psychologists Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson describe the classic study in which researchers infiltrated a group of people, led by a woman named Marian Keech, who believed the earth was going to be destroyed by a flood on December 21 1954.
While some of Ms Keech's followers waited at home in despair as midnight approached on December 20, many others had rid themselves of their belongings and joined Ms Keech to await the flying saucer she promised would whisk them to safety.
As midnight passed, even the fervent believers became restless. At 4.45am, however, Ms Keech had a new vision: because of the unwavering faith of her followers, God had spared the planet. The mood shifted among those awaiting the spaceship from despair to exhilaration which, as researcher Leon Festinger reported, translated over time into an even more impassioned belief in Ms Keech's mystical abilities.
Here is how Ms Tavris and Mr Aronson describe the motivational power of what Mr Festinger termed "cognitive dissonance":
"The engine that drives self-justification, the energy that produces the need to justify our actions and decisions - especially the wrong ones - is an unpleasant feeling called 'cognitive dissonance'. It is a state of tension that occurs whenever a person holds two cognitions (ideas, attitudes, beliefs, opinions) that are psychologically inconsistent, such as 'smoking is a dumb thing to do because it could kill me' and 'I smoke two packs a day'. Dissonance produces mental discomfort, ranging from minor pangs to deep anguish; people don't rest easy until they find a way to reduce it."
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Jedi Jack will find the elusive channel.