Cognitive Dissonance
“When your filter gets challenged with contradictory evidence, you don’t update your belief. You generate noise.”
Core Idea
Cognitive dissonance is the mental discomfort that occurs when someone holds two contradictory beliefs, or when evidence conflicts with an existing belief. Rather than update the belief, the mind works to reduce the discomfort through rationalization.
Adams uses this as a key diagnostic tool for identifying when someone is “in a movie” and unlikely to change their view. When you present contradicting evidence and the person becomes more emotional rather than more curious, you’re witnessing cognitive dissonance in action.
How It Works
The brain prioritizes coherence over accuracy. When new information threatens an existing belief - especially one tied to identity or tribal affiliation - the brain treats it as an attack.
Defense mechanisms include:
- Dismissing the source: “That’s just right-wing media”
- Reinterpreting the evidence: “That proves it even more”
- Attacking the messenger: Personal attacks rather than engagement
- Word salad: Generating incoherent responses that avoid the point
The Tells
Adams identifies signs of cognitive dissonance:
- Emotional escalation: Getting angrier rather than more thoughtful
- Topic switching: Pivoting to a different issue when cornered
- Unfalsifiable claims: “Nothing would change my mind”
- Personal attacks: Shifting from the argument to the person
Relationship to Two Movies
Two Movies describes the phenomenon of divergent perceptions. Cognitive dissonance explains why people stay in their movie even when presented with contradicting evidence.
The discomfort of updating a belief - especially one with social and identity implications - exceeds the discomfort of holding a false belief. The brain chooses the path of least psychological resistance.
See Also
- Two Movies on One Screen - The divergent perception phenomenon
- Word Salad - A symptom of cognitive dissonance
- Confirmation Bias - Why we seek confirming evidence
Source Stats: 243 mentions across 180 episodes