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ABSTRACT
Ethical implications of Cognitive Dissonance:
Application of Buddhist Ethics
Dr. B.V.S. BHANUSREE, Asst. Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies Andhra University Visakhapatnam - 530 003 AP
Dissonance is described as a subjective variabie. it is an attitude, which contains imbalance, disorder, incongruence and internal inconsistency with in an individual's cognitive systems. The attitudes whether positive or negative, held by an individual are inter related and are part of the overall organization of his personality. It is observed that an individual's cognitive organization is at all times in a state of neither complete consonance nor complete dissonance.
Leon Festinger in his 'theory of cognitive dissonance' explains that the existence of dissonance in a cognitive system is psychologically 'uncomfortable and motivates the individual to try to reduce dissonance and achieve consonance and to avoid situations and information that would increase the dissonance.
This paper intends to study how dissonance becomes an ethical problem both for an individual and for the society. It is explained illustratively as to how dissonance makes a person dishonest, hypocrite and disintegrated. Now the question is whether such a person can achieve and contribute anything to society. Is he not a burden to the society? Then, what is the way out? Modern Psychologists suggest that reason and logic can help an individual to reduce the dissonance.
I would like to conclude with an idea that whether Buddhist ethics can be applied to the present ethical crisis. Buddhist Ethics is also said to be rational and logical which aims at achieving human perfection. An integrated and perfect personality is a social gain according to Buddhism.
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