On this episode, Ameé has an amazing guest on the show. Dr. Carol Tavris's work as a writer, teacher, and lecturer has been devoted to educating the public about psychological science. Her book with Elliot Aronson, "Mistakes Were Made (But Not by ME): Why we justify foolish beliefs, bad decisions, and hurtful acts" (revised edition, 2015, and most recently updated in 2020 with a new chapter--"Dissonance, Democracy, and the Demagogue"), applies cognitive dissonance theory to a wide variety of topics, including politics, conflicts of interest, memory, the criminal justice system, police interrogation, the daycare sex-abuse epidemic, family quarrels, international conflicts, and business. 

She speaks to many people on the topics of self-justification; science and pseudoscience in psychology; gender and sexuality; critical thinking; and anger. And on this episode, Ameé and Carol talk about cognitive dissonance, what it is and why we ALL tend to justify our actions, behaviors and beliefs, no matter what anybody tells us. 

In this episode, you will hear: 

• A definition of Dissonance Theory and what it is 
• The Pyramid of Choice that pushes people further apart over time
• Identify our pre-packaged blind spots and biases, in particular naive realism, and privilege 
• Applying cognitive dissonance theory to all of the events of 2020, including Black Lives Matter, anti-racism, and the US Presidential elections
• How we can use social media differently if we know we really aren't going to change other people's minds & in fact, could be making matters worse 
• How we can become more skeptical and more aware of our biases so that we can be sure we are on the right side of the coin that is truth and dishonesty 

 Resources:

Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me) Third Edition: Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts

Anger: The Misunderstood Emotion