case study .. psychology

Case study on Cognitive Dissonance psychological phenomena Comment by Windows User: Good for you for selecting a less popular subject

Abstract

The human mind enables us to perceive and understand things differently, our perception on things is highly influenced by our psychological stability. A phenomenon is therefore anything that is perceived to exist, it may be natural phenomena such as force of gravity, biological processes, visual phenomena such as peripheral drift, social phenomena such as social or economic networking and then psychological phenomena which is the focus of this research paper. Comment by Windows User: FYI the abstract is generally a summary of the paper. This paragraph provides more of an introduction. Not a big deal but for the future it may be better to write the abstract after you have prepared your paper and then in just a few sentences summarize the main points or a ‘boiled down’ version of the case

Introduction;

What is a psychological phenomenon? Moving around at work places, home and even at school you may realize that people behave differently at different moments, sometimes these behavior may be as a result of the prevailing environmental, social, and economic factor, it is relatively correct to say that most of human behavior is influence by psychological factors such as depression. Through your observation, you will realize that you get results that are reliably in an empirical systematic manner. Therefore, a psychological phenomenon is generated through human behavior and how human responds to influences around him. Comment by Windows User: These behaviors or this behavior Comment by Windows User: Reliable Comment by Ed Schultze: How a human Comment by Windows User: how humans respond to influence or perhaps how humans are influenced Comment by Windows User: it seems the intent of this opening paragraph is to introduce the idea that underneath most behavior our motives and forces including psychological forces. This could be clearer

Cognitive Dissonance is a psychological phenomenon that occurs when one experiences a conflict of attitude, behavior, or beliefs. Someone’s behavior determines hi/her cognition creating a cognition dissonance. This is a state of having inconsistent thoughts, believes or attitude as relating to behavior decisions and attitude change. Sometime clinical psychotherapy sessions don’t make complete use of the researches that have been formulated on trial/ tests concerning psychology that are available. This case study paper aims at providing both sociological, philosophical, and psychological understanding of this phenomena, how it affects the affected individuals and trying to provide a scientific approach and medical approach of assisting the individual either to completely recover and how to leave with the situation. Comment by Windows User: good Comment by Windows User: his/her Comment by Windows User: Not necessarily. (1) Behavior or action may result in a cognition, a thought, and (2) some behaviors may result in cognitive dissonance Comment by Windows User: do not Comment by Windows User: this sentence is unclear Comment by Windows User: monitor agreement this paper aims… and tries (as opposed to trying) Comment by Windows User: unclear

This case study paper explores, the key indicators that of cognitive dissonance, how the condition affects the affected individuals and psychotherapy measures that can be employed to assist the affected individuals. This paper is a representation of a month case study that I carried out on one of my relative who for some time has been experiencing intra-personal conflicts. For many years he was addicted to smoking and excessive drinking habits, after efforts to keep him in a rehabilitation center for nine months, the habit seemed to have changed and he seemed to be a changed person who was ready to be incorporated back to his job that he lost as a result of his excessive drinking habits. After reading this article the reader will be able to understand what Cognitive Dissonance really is and how one can understand/ know if he is facing such a psychological phenomenon and how he/can go about controlling the situation. Comment by Windows User: Relatives and 2. I am impressed that you spent a month on this Good for you. I hope this is not your real cousin as we discussed in class You get a lot of credit for this Comment by Windows User: Caps not needed here Comment by Windows User: write gender neutral he or she consistently Comment by Windows User: Comment by Windows User:

Background

To some extent, psychological phenomena have been at the core of psychological disorders, such as depressions, and these disorders have been among the factors that lead to interpersonal conflicts as a result of misunderstanding between the affected individuals and the people around them who may not be aware of such phenomena, these factors have somehow played a role in the rising cases of people committing suicides when the affected individuals feel that the people around them and those that are close to them don’t understand them. A good example is when someone who has had a bad criminal record reforms but later the aspect of his past criminal life starts coming back to him creating a conflict situation within him as to whether he should just assume what people will say and get back to his old ways, or strive to maintain his new ways of life, if there is no one around to encourage such an individual in his new ways, he may face a state of depression given that he may opt that in order to in the state of his new life, he should start drinking or smoking to help him control the urge. Comment by Windows User: can be seen as Comment by Windows User: run on sentence 111 words break it down

Case study situation.

When he was released from a rehabilitation center, my cousin seemed like he had completely recovered from his drinking and smoking habits, but for the past few months he has been experiencing personal dis-satisfaction with everything he does and wants, to level of even avoiding being seen at some hours of the day or even talking to people directly. The paper is a result of a one-month case study on cognitive dissonance and its effects. Comment by Windows User: dissatisfaction not hyphenated Comment by Windows User: do not use absolutes. There are almost always exceptions qualify your statements Comment by Ed Schultze: is this personal dissatisfaction and avoidance the product of withdrawal, anxiety and/or cognitive dissonance? How could you tease each of these out?

Methodology

Observation; for a start I had to take a close observation on every move made by the persona under study to try and his physical behaviors and how he was relating with everyone and everything around him. Keen observation helps in providing the first hand information about anything. Comment by Windows User: good sentence short and sweet, clear and strong

Spending time with the person of interest; spending time with the person of interest provided a good avenue to understand his thinking and how he reacted to the factors in the environment around him. Spending time with the person under study gave me a good time to create a more close relationship with him with the aims of building great trust between us. Spending more time together also gave him a chance to ask me questions on how people viewed him when he was in the rehabilitation center and how people view him today now that he recently came out the center and he is struggling to get back on track and gain something constructive out of his life. Comment by Windows User: great basis for a case study. I hope you are disguising the subject’s identity

Interviewing; this was carried out in a psychotherapy manner and at set time and on specific days. This aimed at finding out how he was viewing things psychologically and physically, wanted to find out whether the current environment outside the rehabilitation institution was helping him keep up and maintain his new habit or was the environment challenging for him to keep maintaining a sober mind from alcoholism and smoking habits. Comment by Windows User: do you mean there was a structure to your interviews and data gathering? A regular time and routine?

Evaluation and review of paste case study articles on cognitive dissonance; the articles helped in providing key information on the expected results of the case study, guidelines on other steps to take to ensure effective and positive results from the study. Comment by Windows User: past Comment by Windows User: excellent

Results and findings.

Close observations showed that my person of interest was experiencing frequent aspects of anxiety, high tempers and a sense of being almost angry at everything around him, factors that made him to hind from people so that he can smoke and drink with notion of relaxing his mind and feel relived from himself. The observation enabled me to understand that my cousin was having a big problem fighting the temptations of smoking and drinking, he was having problems on deciding whether he should be open and share what he was experiencing with his parents and the people around him. Comment by Windows User: hide Comment by Windows User: how much could the anxiety, frustration and anger be attributed to (1) psychological withdrawal, usually follows physical withdrawal, (2) adjustment re-adjustment inpatient to outpatient to step down (3) what replaces the addictive substance/process??? (4) what about you? How do you factor in your involvement. What biases, feelings, thinking and reactions are stirred up just due to your presence/involvement much less study of him?? How could you measure this???

Spending time with the person under study gave us a good time to create an aspect of openness to each other something that enabled him to be open with me, through this I found out the fact was the urge of him smoking always came upon him whenever he was alone and thought of his past life. Spending time at the rehabilitation facility even though it helped him stop his habits, the situation of him being away from his parents and siblings made an aspects of hatred towards his parents, he always felt that they took him there because they never liked him and not that they wanted to correct him and make him a better person, the stay at the facility had helped him change from the habit of drinking and smoking, but somehow affected his emotions and created two different personas in him, one person that seemed changed and wanted to start and wanted to have a new life, and at the same time another person who had a high degree of hatred towards his own parents and especially his dad. And given that he never wanted to show his dad, he still viewed smoking and drinking as a way that can help him control his emotions. Comment by Windows User: Addiction, nicotine besides strong physical addiction there is considerable learning (think classical conditioning) going on over all the years he has been smoking. Feelings are glued to certain behaviors that revolve around smoking. If he smoked for 20 years that can constitute some strong gluing- superglue Comment by Windows User: Run on sentence 126 words Comment by Windows User: So he was admitted with resentment and doubt regarding his parents true feelings towards him ( get rid of him, look down their noses at him get him needed help. These conflicting thoughts connected to some focused and intense feelings towards his father. At the same time this conflict may also connect to his identity and comfort with a transformation becoming a ‘straight’ version of himself. You could really explore this in some depth what this might mean to him at various levels. If he believes his parents did not act out of caring could he then believe a transformation on his part- going straight was ‘caving’ and conforming to others version of him which can also equate to devaluing oneself

Given that the time we spent together created a sense trust between us, the interview sessions were not hard to handle even though the feedbacks and reactions were the same as those that I noted whenever we hanged out. Comment by Windows User: This seems very important. No matter how you set this up and no matter how you intended to balance out being his friend and cousin and also a ‘researcher’ the relationship between the two of you was changing. Can you think about this and then how this might have effected him?

Data

The figure below is a representation of the process of cognitive dissonance.

From the above diagram we realize that inconsistency in attitude, thoughts and behavior are the key factor that lead to a state of dissonance which in turn leads to unpleasant arousal or results. The diagram suggests that these effects can be reduced by creating environment that will help in removing these inconsistencies in thoughts, attitude and behavior. Comment by Windows User: I love the chart!!!!! Comment by Windows User: Most times after dissonance is exposed and anxiety comes along as fuel then a change occurs in thinking, actions and/or feelings.

Discussion

What are the effects of prolonged cognitive dissonance?

From the above study, I found that cognitive dissonance provides a clear picture of someone’s intrinsic desire for consistency a situation that may psychological discomfort, therefore there is need to create measures that will help avoid situations that may lead to this psychological phenomenon. Generally, people have the character of describing how the world is and how it works and not understanding how it works creates an aspect of cognitive dissonance. The theory of cognitive dissonance provides several dimensions most those based on region aspects or virtues. Religion virtues play a key role in giving explanations and directions to follow in life. An aspect that enables us to be consistent in our thoughts, attitude and behavior towards the natural phenomena and the nature of science. Therefore, if we don’t understand this phenomena, we will be in a state of cognitive dissonance. From my case study I can say that given that the person under study never got that love he expected to get when he came out of the correction facility from the people close to him, his attitude towards them and any other person that seemed hostile to him, grew towards a negative direction and something that also affected his thoughts and behavior, making him believe that the best way to remain in a good state of mind is hiding so that he can drink and smoke. And after smoking he would remain angry and annoyed at everyone and everything around him. Given that neither of his parents cared to listen to him so that they can understand what was happening to him, he preferred spending time alone. Creating a conducive environment would really help in avoiding this phenomenon and make him live a normal life with everyone and even motivate him to completely transform into a new person that he aspired to be after getting from the rehabilitation facility. Comment by Ed Schultze: May produce psychological discomfort Comment by Ed Schultze: So one response might be to avoid exposure to experiences that can potentially activate cognitive dissonance. Is this the primary response to cognitive dissonance?? Comment by Ed Schultze: Religion?? Or religious aspects?? Comment by Windows User: Religious virtues Comment by Ed Schultze: Incomplete sentence Comment by Ed Schultze: Do not use contractions in formal academic papers

Sigmund Freud describes cognitive dissonance as an experience of something that is known to a person not entirely new or strange something he called in Germany as “uncanny” crates a paradox situation to the person experiencing it and it may sometime lead to outright rejection of that which is morally and ethically right since the situations makes the person not think critically and rationalize factors around him/her.

Originally and under normally circumstances, emotional response is influenced by the neuroscientific literature in understanding cognitive dissonance as a physical phenomenon. Basing our understanding on motivational directions model which states that the mind should regulate and individual’s response to their own anger and if the prevailing circumstances are not changed by either the individual himself/herself or those around them, their motivation to control their anger and other emotions may not develop. The fact is frequent cases of cognitive dissonance re-arises the previous emotional aspects that ought to be controlled by the rationalization criteria and if rationalization does not take place, and the emotion controlled effectively by the person, then the previous character may grow and take better of him/her and lead to mood control complications such as depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorders. Comment by Ed Schultze: An individual’s Comment by Ed Schultze: Run on sentence

Effects of cognitive dissonance at work places.

Cognitive dissonance is not a phenomenon that affects people only at homes or at schools but also at work place and it is a key reason professional stress where by one will find it hard supporting the daily programs of the company and in an organization, in areas such as risk management, human resource departments given that these are some of the key areas in a company or an organization where staffs may be coerced towards handling and tolerating, supporting and executing daily obligations. Work places require great ethical traits therefore is fundamental to emphasize the importance of these traits .never the less it comes out that even though people are faced with stressful situations at work places, they are still able to carry out their duties as per the regulations of the company or the organizations they are working for, the following factors influence this aspects;

1. Positional respect; this is where they do things because the information to them has been passed from a position higher than their positions.

2. Normalization; this refers to a state in intrinsic justification i.e. When someone feels that something is not pleasant to him/her, but he/she has to do it since its part of the job and others are doing it. Comment by Ed Schultze: Spell out in other words in essence however For example may be better

3. Emotional trading; this is where an employee is forced to think of the future benefits of his/her obedience to those in a higher office.

The above factors are just a sample of personal justification techniques that when is forced to follow when faced with an actual choice situation at a work place. This means that sometime people try to convince themselves to take a hard choice even if it is against their inner notions and believes or even if they are not in the mood to do it, a state that creates intrinsic conflict. It is within the human nature to avoid getting into conflicts, arguments and confrontations with their bosses at places of work but it is also good for those in managerial offices to understand this factor for them to treat their staff in accordance with good work ethical norms to avoid a situation where staff are forced to struggle fighting with personal conflicts and conflicts with the management at the same time. It is always good to create a working environment that will enable the employees to deliver their work mandates effectively despite the personal problems that they may be facing at any given moment. Comment by Ed Schultze: Did you mean bekiefs?

If the cognitive dissonance remain unsolved or unattended to, they may lead to the falling problems at work place; increased cases of absenteeism, withdrawal and disengagement, high level of reduced performance by staff, negative and unethical behavior at work that include; intentional efforts by staff to block and disrupt daily activities of the company or organization something that may cause negative impacts to the company, malicious compliance, cases of aggression and sabotage. On the other when the cognitive dissonance issues are addressed the following will be achieved at work places; high staff turnover, improved health impacts and work place stress control.

From the above scenarios, we get that even though people may not understand the impacts that cognitive dissonance has to the affected people, a lot has to be reviewed in regard to depression cases and suicidal cases that arise daily in different parts of the country from homes to schools and even at work places, as much at this phenomenon seems like a factor that can be dealt with and solved in a simple manner, the truth is understanding this phenomenon may be challenging given that it is a brain related issue that to a high degree requires psychiatric expertise to evaluate and create control measures. Apart from affecting individuals as personal levels, cognitive dissonance also has negative effects on the person’s ability to learn and understanding; in a case study carried out by emerald insight, it become clear that psychological discomfort creates state that prevents people from gaining and learning new concepts in the process of transformation over a given timeframe. Even though productive HR habits may help in controlling an individual’s inconsistent attitude and unpleasant psychological states and improve their learning work behavior. This therefore means that in constructing and control organizational learning needs basic transformation in the manner in which we think and reason, behave, relate with other during the process, the effective HR practices can assist in avoiding dissonance and this involves learning behavior in the work place. Comment by Ed Schultze: Spell out

Conclusion, implications and reaction

Understanding cognitive resonance has to be though a psychological approach and given that this is complication of the human mind, and when identified psychological measures have to be put in place to facilitate effective treating and control of the affected individual. And in order to reduce this phenomenon, the following three criteria need to be considered;

1. Change of behavior, this refer to doing away with old/ current personal character of an individual, this helps in reducing the cognitive dissonance phenomenon.

2. Change of personal beliefs; our minds are constantly filtering out conflicting data to support our beliefs.  So, a person who smokes may look for, and believe, scientific research that says smoking does not necessarily cause cancer. That way, when they continue their behavior, they experience less dissonance.

3. Justify your beliefs and behavior. A good example of this is a person who spends money frivolously. They might convince themselves that throwing their money away is ok, saying things such as “you can’t take it with you.” Another example is when a person who engages in risky behavior says “you’ve got to live every day to the fullest. You never know when it will be your last” in an attempt to rationalize their risky behavior.

References

Beauvois, J. L., Joule, R. V., 1996. A radical dissonance theory. London: Taylor and Francis.

Cooper, J. (2007). Cognitive dissonance: 50 years of a classic theory. London: Sage Publications.

Festinger, L. (1957). A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. California: Stanford University Press.

Harmon-Jones, E., Mills, J., Cognitive Dissonance: Perspectives on a Pivotal Theory in Social

Hull, A.M. (2002). Neuroimaging findings in post-traumatic stress disorder. The British Journal of Psychiatry 181: 102-10.

R. A. Wicklund, J. W. Brehm. (1976). Perspectives on Cognitive Dissonance.

Harmon-Jones, E., Mills, J., Cognitive Dissonance: Perspectives on a Pivotal Theory in Social Psychology. American Psychological Association, Washington, DC, pp. 71–99.

0-10 points        10 minimum word count 

0-5 points         3 Grammar, spelling and word usage

0-5 points        3 Thematic development and clarity

0-5 points        5 Clearly connects focus of case study to course material

0-5 points         5 Connects Theory, Research and Practice

0-10 points       10 Demonstrates a thoughtful understanding and explanation of a psychological phenomena

0-5 points         4 Effectively uses the case study format to communicate the above

0-5 points       5 Insightful and meaningful conclusions

0-50 points       45 Total

Very interesting. You are the first person to focus on a cognitive dissonance. As mentioned, I do hope this is fabricated subject (re your cousin).

Cognitive dissonance essentially explains the force or drive associated to contradiction between one’s beliefs, thoughts and actions. This force can cause significant anxiety and can be a good force in driving change. In your paper you point to many contradictions and ‘disconnects’(e.g., (a) maintain new behaviors and identity or return to substance use, this may be compounded by negative feelings and thoughts towards his parents (hating them or appreciating them); (b) the fantasy of how the real world might treat and view him and the reality of new experiences (c) options at discharge: tolerate the distrust he may have for some key family members or go back to hiding and secrets which contradicts a path to sobriety) Each of these and more can cause considerable tension and anxiety. Following the theory of cognitive dissonance this anxiety should push a change in either the thinking, belief or behavior. It could push him either way. This makes this a great area for critical thinking and exploration. Since anxiety seems very related to substance use, cognitive dissonance can provide support for a psychodynamic explanation for addiction.

You extend your critical thinking by noting that cognitive dissonance can be a significant factor for many at work

This is a very good paper and demonstrates some excellent critical thinking.

Please address the writing. It was difficult to get to these points and appreciate the depth and creativity that you have provided. The writing needs to be clearer.