Cognitive dissonance and mindset perturbations during crisis: “eco-socio-psycho-somatic” perspectives

Abstract

Mandatory and restrictive health regulations during the corona pandemic caused psychic disorders in many people, which even led to clinically relevant mental disorders. At the same time, there was gradually a polarization of opinions among the population. In order to improve future pandemic management, an integrative understanding of these psychosocial processes therefore seems useful. Here we start theoretically with the mental effects of inconsistencies of the information environment by referring to concepts such as the theory of cognitive dissonance. In a next step, we use the psychodynamic theory to understand the affective-motivational defense mechanisms underlying these cognitive states and processes. However, a broader theoretical framework of psychoanalysis seems to make sense, because self-referential processing also influences the style of thinking. For this reason, we use a more comprehensive psychological systems theoretical framework model to integrate these different perspectives. This integrative view refers in part to basic knowledge of health psychology regarding the resistance of unhealthy ways of thinking and behaviors and the possibilities for interventions for change. We then extend this model to a broader picture that also covers the relationship between men and their environment. This results in the perspective of a multidimensional socioecological theoretical framework, which as a heuristic reference model and related to other ecological approaches could also be helpful for various theoretical questions for public health, and could provide a better public understanding of health issues. In line with this perspective, we hypothesize that with regard to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, the acceptance of public health narratives could be increased if a more consistent picture of the scientific descriptions and explanations of the pandemic - similar to the model proposed - could be provided, which would enable the understanding of the origin, course and countermeasures, and thus could have positive collective psycho-hygienic effects.

Enhancing Organizational Effectiveness Through Employee Work Attitude: Dissection of Nigeria’s Hospitality Industry

“…In the context of work, an employee can perceive his or herself as being disliked by management or the manager and such perception could lead to negative work attitude. To avert this behavior, managers have been advised to understand the behavioral factors that promote counterproductive work behavior from their employees (Tretter & Löffler-Stastka, 2024). Employees who display negative work attitudes have been observing that they are getting used to it and conclude that their behavior was triggered by those accumulated attitudes over time (Joubert & Hitge, 2023).…”

“…To correct the negative work attitude, Festinger (1957) introduced cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance theory states that an individual with a negative work attitude can revert to a positive attitude once he or she discovers that the former behavior is not beneficial (Tretter & Löffler-Stastka, 2024). Colthirst-Reid ( 2022) pointed out that it is better to discourage work attitude behavior that is not favorable to the goal of any organization.…”

The 6Ps of Preparing a Manuscript: Prior Preparation Prevents Potentially Poor Performance

“…Voice to self “I really should write tomorrow, it’s the only way I will get that grant out, but the weather is cracking and I’d rather go fishing”. Psychologists believe that cognitive dissonance is a type of defense mechanism to preserve the ego and still the troublesome mind . Recognizing vacillation and disarming permission giving thoughts are the first steps to combatting this issue, and routine then provides a framework to get the job done .…”