cognitive dissonance


noun Psychology.

anxiety that results from simultaneously holding contradictory or otherwise incompatible attitudes, beliefs, or the like, as when one likes a person but disapproves strongly of one of his or her habits.

Origin of cognitive dissonance

First recorded in 1960–65

British Dictionary definitions for cognitive dissonance

cognitive dissonance

noun

psychol an uncomfortable mental state resulting from conflicting cognitions; usually resolved by changing some of the cognitions