'Dissonance Theory' – why no-one says they were wrong

Politics on the Couch

Host Rafael Behr talks to Dr Carol Tavris about the mental obstacles that stop us from admitting that we may have made a mistake.

Dr Tavris is a pre-eminent social psychologist specialising in the field of cognitive dissonance and co-author of “Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me)”, a seminal book on the subject that was recently updated to include a chapter on Donald Trump's support base.

Carol has written articles, op-eds, and book reviews on a wide array of topics in psychological science for the TLS, Wall Street Journal, Skeptic magazine, Los Angeles Times, and many other venues.

This episode was recorded just before Christmas 2020 and touches on some of the reasons why (so far) not many people have changed their minds about their support for (or opposition to) the idea of Brexit, and why the reality in 2021 is unlikely to trigger mass conversions.

Links to interesting stuff mentioned in this podcast

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/oct/23/sarah-silverman-apologises-after-louis-ck-masturbation-comments

https://lincolnproject.us

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Festinger

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_cult

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliot_Aronson

Amazon UK link to Carol's book

Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions and Hurtful Acts (2020 edition - updated and revised)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mistakes-Were-Made-but-Not/dp/1780666950/ref=sr_1_1?

crid=1JHS0EFOUNOK3&dchild=1&keywords=mistakes+were+made+but+not+by+me&qid=1609202077&sprefix=mistakes+were+%2Caps%2C285&sr=8-1

Amazon US link

https://www.amazon.com/Mistakes-Were-Made-but-Third/dp/0358329612/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=mistakes+were+made+but+not+by+me+third+edition&qid=1591458464&s=books&sr=1-1

Our podcast was recently chosen by Feedspot as one of the best 15 English-speaking political science podcasts in the world.

https://blog.feedspot.com/political_science_podcasts

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