Collective Cognitive Dissonance

The term Collective Cognitive Dissonance was created by Ulf Dunkel in the German Circumcision Debate in 2012. It describes the issue of cognitive dissonance for a group of persons.

Cognitive Dissonance

“	In psychology, cognitive dissonance is the mental stress or discomfort experienced by an individual who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time, or is confronted by new information that conflicts with existing beliefs, ideas, or values. (Wikipedia)

The term was defined in 1957 by the American social psychologist Leon Festinger. His theory was confirmed since then in many experiments and empirically substantiated.

Development of Dissonance

“	Four steps have to be done to develop cognitive dissonance: Behavior and attitude are felt as contradictory; the behavior happened voluntarily; physiological excitation occurs; the behavior is made responsible for the excitation. Translation: "Ulf Dunkel" (Wikipedia)

Dissolution of Dissonance

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Since dissonance is uncomfortable, people try to bring the cognitions in line (to make them 'consonant' in a relationship), to stop the negative emotional state. The dissolution of dissonance (also called dissonance reduction) can attach to each of the four development steps: The underlying problem is solved. Often it is necessary to change the point of view in order to identify new solutions. With the solution, the dissonance disappears. The desires, intentions or attitudes are abandoned or placed on an achievable and therefore less conflicting level. The physiological arousal is attenuated, e.g. through sport, by balancing activities, by rest, through meditation, through alcohol consumption, sedatives, tobacco or drugs. The physiological excitability is reduced, e.g. by adequate rest, avoiding avoidable stress, through sports and serenity. Also apparent solutions, illusions and excuses can reduce stress: The excitation is attributed to other causes ("The hypocrisy of other people annoys me"). The contradiction between behavior and attitude is played down ("My behavior isn't that bad, isn't it?") The behavior is represented as forced ("I had to act in such a way.") Not perceiving, denying or downgrading information Selective acquisition and interpretation of dissonance-reducing information Translation: "Ulf Dunkel" (Wikipedia)

Collective Cognitive Dissonance

With reference to cutting the genital organs for non-medical reasons, one frequently hears a variety of arguments for circumcision from affected persons and those groups which they feel associated with, which serve to dissolve the cognitive dissonance. With apparently meaningful, but regularly refutable reasons they try to whitewash the circumcision.

If the social group, to which the affected person belongs, has many other affected persons, such illusory reasons with group relevance develop to even help the group to whitewash their own circumcision.

As soon as these illusory reasons are passed on by a generation to the next, they will justify the permanent repetition of the not justifiable act of circumcision to a part of the cultural property of this group and within the group.

Following Dunkel, Collective Cognitive Dissonance has three preconditions:

1. Cognitive Dissonance of single affected persons;
2. Cognitive Dissonance of the group which single affected persons with cognitive dissonance belong to;
3. Cognitive Dissonance of the group, over generations.

The author of Unspeakable Mutilations, Lindsay R. Watson, calls this phenomenon the Circumcision coma if it refers to a single person who hasn’t realized this issue yet.