After working in a fast-food restaurant for three years to pay for your college tuition, you vowed never to work in a restaurant again. But after graduation the only job offer you receive is a managerial job at a local restaurant. Your acceptance of this job may result in __________ dissonance.

The psychologist Leon Festinger proposed the theory of cognitive dissonance, which explains how people try to maintain their internal consistency. He suggested that individuals have a strong inner need that pushes them to ensure that their beliefs, attitudes and behavior are consistent with each other. When there is inconsistency between them, the conflict leads to a lack of harmony, something that people strive to avoid.

This theory has been widely studied in the field of psychology and can be defined as the discomfort, tension or anxiety that individuals experience when their beliefs or attitudes conflict with what they do. This displeasure can lead to an attempt to change behavior or defend their beliefs or attitudes (even reaching self-deception) to reduce the discomfort they produce.