sgant's Journal: Things I learned on Slashdot today

I've learned that any talk about religion will bring out the best and worst in people. It was fun seeing some of my posts being modded from funny to troll to insightful to flame-bait to interesting to overrated. It was much like a ping-pong match.

But one thing I did learn was the concept of "cognitive dissonance"...a psychological phenomenon that refers to the bad feeling one gets when a discrepancy between what you already know or believe, and new information or interpretation from someone else. Religion usually falls in this framework when two people who are on opposite positions begin discussing and get further and further away from true understanding one another.

This doesn't fall under religion exclusively either, almost any aspects of life can become deeply held beliefs that we don't want to let go of when something new comes along to upset the apple-cart.

Click here to learn more about Cognative Dissonance