With respect to the theory of cognitive dissonance, people can hold contradictory ideas in their minds. If you become aware of the dissonance between two ideas, you could pursue which of the following strategies to reduce the dissonance?
B. You can modify your views of the two contradictory ideas.
C. You can repress one of the cognitions into your unconscious mind and go about your day.
D. You can tell yourself that the contradictory ideas are contradictory
(I didn't include answer A. because it was wrong when I turned in my exam the first time)
It's either B or D, but I lean toward D.
What does your text say?
According to social psychologist Leon Festinger, cognitive dissonance is the psychological tension that occurs when a person holds two contradictory attitudes or thoughts (referred to as cognitions). Cognitive dissonance explains many everyday events involving attitudes and behavior. For example, smokers who know that smoking lead to lung cancer hold contradictory cognitions: (1) I smoke, and (2) smoking leads to lung cancer. The theory predicts that these two thoughts will lead to a state of cognitive dissonance. More important, it predicts that- assuming that they don't change their behavior by quitting smoking- smokers will be motivated to reduce their dissonance by one of the following methods: (1) modifying one or both of the cognitions, (2) changing the perceived importance of one cognition, (3) adding cognitions, or (4) denying that the two cognitions are related to one another. Hence, a smoker may decide that he really doesn't smoke all that much or that he'll quit soon (modifying the cognition), that the evidence linking smoking to lung cancer is weak (changing the importance of a cognition), that the amount of exercise he gets compensates for the smoking (adding cognitions), or that there is no evidence linking smoking and cancer (denial). Whichever technique the smoker uses results in reduced dissonance.
Source: Psychology and Your Life by Robert S. Feldman, Pages 468-469