Cognitive Dissonance

Dissonance applied to the world of music is the use of certain notes or chords that sound harsh together in order to create a certain drama in a piece before it then moves into harmony. This pattern is like the introduction of conflict and resolution in a story that gives music a certain emotional contour The Beauty Of Dissonance.

A most prominent and familiar example might be that three-second opening chord to the Beatles' It’s A Hard Day's Night (click: Magical Mystery Chord). Play this overly-analyzed opening chord (linked in the article's fourth paragraph) and you will experience the yearning for melody after that discordant crashing sound.

And so it is beyond the world of music to the world of beliefs. Brain studies suggest the neural mechanism for musical and cognitive dissonance overlap in the regions that process conflict. These areas detect violations of expectations – auditory in music, cognitive in beliefs – triggering tension that motivates resolution (Cognitive Dissonance).

Perhaps it is in this search for resolution that the brain tries to navigate the complex world around us through shortcuts, particularly during times of stress. These shortcuts can become cognitive biases, or ways in which our brain patterns make us vulnerable to errors in judgment, manipulation, and exploitation (Social Media And The Brain).

For example, consider how one responds to the simple common-sense question about whether a country without enforceable borders can exist other than in name only. The simple knee-jerk response that “You Must Be MAGA” might suggest that the comfort of tribal affiliation takes precedence over thoughtful and nuanced analysis.

Let us consider the ways in which cognitive dissonance may have pushed us into uncomfortable contradictions (Why Politics Makes Us Bend Our Own Values). The resulting hypocrisy, brainwashing, and gaslighting crosses the entire political spectrum.

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