Editing Cognitive Dissonance (section)

=='''Evidence'''==
In Festinger’s study, he used an example to illustrate the theory. A habitual smoker who knows smoking is bad for health experiences cognitive dissonance, as his smoking behavior contradicts with the knowledge that smoking is bad for health (assume that he wants to live longer). The smoker either stops or reduces the frequency of smoking, or he tries to look for evidence that argues the positive effects of smoking, such as the feeling of relaxation and pleasure. The fact that smoking is bad for health doesn’t change, while the smoker’s choice of processing that fact changes—he may just focus more on the enjoyment that smoking brings him and intentionally overlook its harm to health (Festinger, 1957).
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