How Identity—Not Ignorance—Leads to Science Denial

Cognitive dissonance is a negative, tensed emotional state that is caused by holding beliefs or behaviors that are inconsistent with one another.

Because cognitive dissonance brings discomfort, we try to escape it. There are 2 options to get rid of it: to change a behavior or to change a belief. Most people choose the second option.

• Changing a behavior is in most cases hard because most behaviors are rewarding.
• Changing a belief is often easierand that’s why some elements of denial appear: this could mean trivializing the source of the dissonance, adding a new belief or element that supports your choice.

This refers to the negative feelings that people experience when they feel their freedom is threatened in some way (for example, the government stating that they can’t shop, travel, or meet in large gathering as normal.)

If people find a belief or idea to be alarming, and even scary, that fear is a powerful motivator of denial.

It states that people have 3 main psychological needs that support their motivation to engage in any behavior.

1. The need for autonomy, or the belief that an action came from the self.
2. The need for competence. Its important for someone to just believe that they and able to achieve their goals.
3. The need for relatedness: a sense of belonging and the need of being useful, of people valuing your input.

The social groups that people identify with tend to satisfy all these basic psychological needs