Cognitive Dissonance LO20414

John Gunkler (jgunkler@sprintmail.com)
Mon, 18 Jan 1999 10:40:59 -0600

[Host's Note: this appears to be in reply to At's LO20386 and Winfried
Dressler's LO20355]

Winfried and At,

I don't believe you two are using the term "cognitive dissonance" the same
way psychologists have used it. Cognitive dissonance was proposed (by
Leon Festinger in 1957), not as the killer of creativity, but as one very
important motivator of it. This construct was posited as a way of
explaining what prompted a human mind to try to solve a problem -- it was
a way of describing the state of a mind that recognizes there is a problem
to be solved. The recognition that there is something "dissonant"
(non-fitting) about your thinking is what prompts you to be aware there is
some more thinking to do.

[Host's Note: John, you didn't quote from At or Winfried, but I believe
you are replying to this exchange... Winfried's and then At's:

>>Impaired sureness ..... impaires wholeness .....
>>I think this relation is called "cognitive dissonance". ....
>>I guess that collective cognitive dissonance ..... or
>>commonly impaired sureness and wholeness (in At's terms)
>>is one of the >main reasons for the death of corporations
>
>I want to generalise in two directions. Firstly, "cognitive dissonance"
>results from impairing one, more or even all seven essentialties and not
>merely impairing sureness and wholeness. Secondly, "cognitive dissonance"
>causes the death of all types of organisations like marriages, families,
>town councils, goverments, schools, institutes, churces, businesses and
>factories in addition to corporations. Why?

...Rick]

-- 

"John Gunkler" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com>

Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>