Cognitive Dissonance - Internal Conflict between Action and Belief

How many times people get tempted by an Ice cream/ Chocolate while you claim to be on diet?

what exactly runs in thier mind, when they become conscious about their dieting and as well as an urge temptation to eat the ice cream. They get into internal conflict between thier attitude and behaviour

This state of mind with two conflicting ideas is called Cognitive Dissonance.

There are other examples which can also be applied like

Smokker who wishes to quit smoking but still tempted to have one more cigarrette

Impulsive shopper who wants to curb thier spending but gets excited by the SALE!!!

Another example could be working on the boring job rather than pursuing thier own interests

Buying an expensive car and then doubting one's own decision. Often called Buyer's remorse.

Sitting in a boring class for the sake of attendance

Cognitive Dissonance will be reduced by justifying one's own efforts or by joining with people who have similar thought against the conventional belief.

Leon Festinger is the psychologist who coined this term for us. He also has an interesting theory on cognitive dissonance. This theory suggests that when people behave in way not consistent to thier beliefs, an internal uncomfortable tension arouses within them. This tension will lead them to change thier belief to fit to thier actions rather than bringing the action back to original belief.

Dont you all agree with this point :-)

Next time when you come across this interesting situation in your life, remember it as Cognitive Dissonance and see if you can stick to belief. This will improve your self concept.

Behaviour Modification Technique for Weight Loss

As I said in blog introduction, psychology is about human thinking, behaviour, personality. As a first topic for the blog “Psychology for common Man”, I am going to address one of the key challenges that most of people ranging from adolescents to elderly people in the world are dealing with “Weight loss”

“I wish I could reduce 10kgs”
“I was not like this during my college days”
“Starting tomorrow I am going to hit the gym and you will see a different me in the next 6 months”
“I am afraid that I may end up with diabetes, I should start caring about my health”
“I am not sure if I can wear my favourite jeans again, god I don’t fit into it now”

Do the above phrases sound familiar to you or have you heard these kinds of statements often…. May be and most of the time I can hear a Yes!!!

Let us see how psychology can help with weight loss…. Of course it is the science of human mind which varies all of sudden for strict dieting and another moment craves back for the favourite Baskin Robbins Ice cream with caramel topping :)

Most of the time, we struggle hard to reduce weight but then we are unable to maintain them back and gain more than what we have struggled to lose. One reason for this to occur is because the human body is much more effective at vigorously defending against weight loss than it is protecting against weight gain. As caloric intake is reduced, fat cells begin to shrink, the person’s body actively defends against weight loss by decreasing metabolism and decreasing energy level. When they go off the diet, their now more energy efficient bodies quickly utilize the additional calories and they regain the weight that they lost.

Now with little help from the internal biological factors, people’s mind takes much higher responsibility for weight loss. From a cognitive perspective, let us consider the behaviour modification technique that can be used in general for any behaviour modification in this case weight loss. The same technique can be applied for quitting smoking, teaching your kids the right habits, overcoming constant mistakes that we do on day to day.

Behaviour Modification Techniques involves several stages and I am going to restrict the definitions for ease of understanding and focus on weight loss.

Behaviour Modification Technique for Weight loss

Identify Goal
Lose weight, healthy life style

Current Behaviour
Irregular eating habits
Careless choice of foods including junk, oily,
Zero exercise or activities

Target Behaviour
Regular eating habits,
Careful selection and wholesome food
Regular activities
Definition of deviation
Breakdown of end goal into weekly/ monthly goals
Data Recording System
Primary Endpoints
Weight
Exercise Routine
Secondary Endpoints
Occurrences of fatigue
Occurrences of cravings
Deviation
Diet Deviation
Exercise Deviation

Behaviour Change Strategy
Dieting
Fixed Diet Plan – Fixed Shopping Plan
Controlled Eat outs – Menu orders
Exercise
Fixed Exercise Routine
Alternatives for Exercise Deviations

Program Implementation
Positive Enforcements for deviation
Rewards for Plan
Evaluation
Weekly Evaluations of Primary & Secondary Endpoints

Review of Program
Optimization of plan if things are working out/ not working out.


I hope the behaviour modification technique gives you a much scientific approach towards the conventional weight loss programs.

Happy dieting, Happy exercising and Happy weight loss!!! All the best!!!