Cognitive Dissonance Theory and Racism

Since the field of brotherly psychology first began its investigating into the phenomenon of racism and prejudice, a proceeds of significant theories have been constructed in an attempt to effectively create by mental act prejudice and provide theory-based insight into the various ship canal in which we as a society, some champions, and psychologists argon to help vary this sizable global issue. such(prenominal) social mental theories involve: Authoritarian Personality Theory, The frustration Aggression Hypothesis, Realist Conflict theory, fond Identity Theory, Social cultivation theory, Social Cognition and cognitive discord theory. Each of these theories has provided suppositious insight into various key factors that are pertinent to the formulation, maintenance, and aspect of prejudice. However, of all the social psychological theories that have attempted to effectively conceptualize prejudice and in so doing develop slipway of reducing its grossly ruinous effec ts on the individual and society, Festingers (1957) theory of Cognitive Dissonance seems mavin of the about relevant to the clinical applications of working with racial individuals, primarily because the theory provides clinicians with both(prenominal) significant conceptual and unimaginative insight into dickens of the special psychological elements that are most relevant to the process of support clients change their racist or prejudicial viewpoints in treatment, viz. the relational process that exists mingled with an individuals cognitions and the behavioral consequences that attach to as a result. \nThe theory of cognitive dissonance, according to Festinger (1957), postulates that pairs of cognitions can be either related or unrelated to one another. If two cognitions are related to one another, they are considered then to be either agreeable or dissonant. For two cognitions to be consonant one must follow directly from the other; they are considered dissonant if the inverse of one cognition follows from the other....