What is resonance - its types (sound, cognitive), as well as the benefits and dangers of resonance

November 16, 2020

Hello, dear readers of the KtoNaNovenkogo.ru blog. Back in school, in physics class, we studied what resonance is. But, unfortunately, this knowledge was not always presented in a form conducive to assimilation.

Therefore, today I want to very briefly remind you what resonance is, how it arises, and what types of resonance (and not only in the field of physics) are distinguished.

And, of course, all this will be told in the simplest possible terms using examples that everyone can understand. It will be interesting, don’t switch...

What is cognitive dissonance?

Cognitive dissonance is a feeling of severe psychological discomfort that arises due to internal contradiction. For example, if it is discovered that some beliefs, values, knowledge or ideas contradict each other. It can also occur if reality begins to contradict common sense or knowledge that previously seemed absolutely accurate.

The term "cognitive dissonance" is of Latin origin. It is formed from the words cognitio (knowledge) and dissonantia (inconsistency, inconsistency). Thus, this term can be translated as “inconsistency with knowledge” or “inconsistency of knowledge.”

Cognitive dissonance can be considered as an internal conflict that arises in a person’s mind if some event or new information contradicts his existing beliefs. Each of us, under the influence of events occurring in our lives, develops a certain pattern of perception of the world in which some things are simply impossible. This feature of perception helps us understand and systematize information coming from outside without unnecessary effort.

If an event cannot be adequately interpreted using existing templates, this causes cognitive dissonance. At the same time, a person experiences such strong internal discomfort that he strives to bring mutually contradictory knowledge to a common denominator as soon as possible. To do this, the first explanation that comes to mind is usually accepted, which can reconcile this knowledge with each other.

Examples of cognitive dissonance

Let's look at a few examples that will help you better understand what cognitive dissonance is. A classic example is Asch's experiment, which demonstrates how strong the power of conformity over human consciousness is. The experiment involves 1 subject and several decoy participants.

They all have to take turns answering the same question. In this case, the real subject answers last, and all the decoys give a deliberately false answer before that (for example, they call a black object white or vice versa). Seeing that others call black white, the experiment participant experiences cognitive dissonance. Trying to resolve it, he agrees with the opinion of the crowd.

However, in real life, even without psychological experiments, there are plenty of typical situations that cause cognitive dissonance in people. Let's look at a few general examples:

• Betrayal. If a person is betrayed by a faithful friend, even before the resentment and disappointment he experiences cognitive dissonance. He cannot believe what happened and tries to find a logical explanation for it.
• Parental example. Children often encounter the fact that their parents dictate certain requirements and moral principles to them, but they themselves violate them. For example, parents demand that the child confess to something, promising not to punish if he is honest. But when he admits everything, he is punished. As a result, he realizes that his parents deceived him, and he himself suffered because of his own honesty.
• Moral dilemma. A surgeon may be faced with the need to operate on a terrorist who has been wounded in his own terrorist attack. A psychologist may learn that his patient is dangerous and capable (or even planning) to commit murder. The lawyer may realize that his client is indeed guilty. All these people have a conflict between moral principles and professional responsibilities.
• A “useful” habit. Any addicted person experiences cognitive dissonance whenever they realize how harmful their habit is. For example, a smoker is frightened by the thought that he will have to give up smoking, although he understands that this is necessary. But then he hears a statement like “smoking can protect against dementia” or “smoking helps you avoid gaining weight,” and he happily accepts it as truth, because it helps him get rid of internal conflict.

A common example of cognitive dissonance is the collapse of ideals, which every person experiences to one degree or another as they grow older. Many beliefs that we believe in because of our naivety or inexperience turn out to be erroneous or deliberately false. And having realized this, it can be really difficult to cope with the information received.

Quality factor

In any physical oscillatory system, you can measure the degree of its responsiveness - a value called quality factor and represents the level of response intensity.

Different indicators of this value lead to different consequences:

1. With a low degree of quality factor (or response), the existing system is unable to maintain forced oscillations for a long time and will gradually return to its own oscillations;
2. A high quality factor in some cases can be dangerous, since intense resonance will certainly lead to the destruction of the physical body that is affected from the outside. For example, if you don’t just stand on the middle of a board thrown across a wide river, but make swinging movements (up and down), then most likely you will soon find yourself in the water, since the board will break at the point where you were.

Signs of cognitive dissonance

Studying this phenomenon, psychologists have identified several characteristic signs that are always present, regardless of the nature and cause of cognitive dissonance:

• A person is confident in each of the contradictory elements. Therefore, the contradiction makes him uncomfortable , and he needs a simple solution to the situation to be found as soon as possible.
• Conflict can only arise if the conflicting elements are related. For example, a person may want to renew a romantic relationship, but at the same time he is not ready to forgive his former “other half” for some action. You can also give an example of a person who wants his parents to be proud of him, but at the same time does not want to please them, because he is angry due to too strict upbringing.
• Cognitive dissonance is always severe mental discomfort. A person is literally torn into pieces and cannot calm down until the contradiction is resolved.
• All a person’s thoughts are busy searching for a solution , and it is impossible to escape from them. As a result, the solution is to change the attitude towards one of the conflicting elements.
• In order to get rid of cognitive dissonance, personal attitudes and views can be adjusted to an already committed action.

The last point implies that a person who has committed an offense first suffers, and later revises his views and beliefs, adjusting his thinking to get rid of the conflict. Alternatively, he may try to find an excuse for his mistake so as not to sacrifice his principles.

Types and examples of resonance

The phenomenon of resonance rightfully belongs to physics, since it was discovered by it and initially described only physical phenomena.

However, today this concept is used in a variety of spheres of life.

In this regard, we can distinguish its different types:

1. Mechanical - the above-mentioned swing, the swinging of the bell “tongue”, the resonance of the bridge from a passing train or soldiers walking along it “in step”, etc.
2. Acoustic - an example is the sound resonance used in playing musical instruments, such as guitar, balalaika, lute.

They all have a body and it was invented for a reason: the sound that the string makes when it is plucked goes inside the body. There it resonates with the walls, which leads to its amplification. Therefore, the sound quality directly depends on the quality of the material from which the instrument is made and even on the varnish with which it was coated.

3. Electrical – the coincidence of the frequency of the external voltage with the natural frequency of the electrical circuit through which the current flows.
4. Public – a vivid response of the public to an event, phenomenon or situation. We are talking about a reaction that turned out to be similar among the majority of people. For example, the pension reform of 2020 caused a loud, sharp, negative resonance among the citizens of our country.
5. Cognitive resonance is a coincidence of views and opinions. For example, you met someone: as a result, you have a positive impression of the person. Why is this so? The whole point is that during the conversation you found a lot in common with him, his values ​​and judgments turned out to be close to you, hence the sympathy, which is a consequence of resonance. From a philosophical point of view, the phenomenon is defined as the unanimity of two souls in a sensory context.

Mobile phones, microwave ovens, televisions, echoes in the mountains, sonorous singing in the bathroom - the phenomenon in question is present everywhere.

Who is the author of the concept?

A theory that explains in detail what cognitive dissonance is and what are the mechanisms of its occurrence was proposed by the American psychologist Leon Festinger in 1957. The author himself said that he was prompted to create this theory by rumors that spread after a strong earthquake. After analyzing the composition of these rumors, their credibility and how easily they were accepted, he came to the conclusion that people tend to interpret the information they receive in such a way as to avoid internal conflict.

The essence of Festinger's theory is that each person always strives to ensure maximum coherence and orderliness of his picture of the external world. When receiving new information, a person tries to integrate it into his beliefs so as to maintain harmony. If the harmony is disturbed, he begins to experience severe discomfort and cannot calm down until he finds a way to reconcile the new information with the existing picture of the world.

As part of his theory, Festinger formulated two key hypotheses:

• In a state of cognitive dissonance, a person does everything to minimize the level of inconsistency between contradictory attitudes. As soon as he achieves correspondence (consonance) between them, the mental discomfort goes away and he feels relief and satisfaction.
• A person who has managed to cope with cognitive dissonance tends in the future to avoid information or circumstances that cause internal conflict in him.

Causes of cognitive dissonance

There are quite a lot of factors that can provoke this condition. Psychologists name the following factors as the main reasons:

• An emerging contradiction between beliefs, knowledge, goals, concepts, principles, ideas or desires.
• Discrepancies between personal principles and moral standards imposed by society.
• The spirit of contradiction that arises in a person and forces him to resist ethical, moral, cultural and even legal norms.
• The discrepancy between the acquired knowledge or the circumstances that have arisen and the attitudes that a person already has.

How to deal with cognitive dissonance?

From a psychological perspective, cognitive dissonance can be triggered by internal conflict or external circumstances. And if you immediately understand what nature it has, it will be much easier to deal with it, since you can focus on its cause and understand how to deal with it.

You can get rid of cognitive dissonance in one of three ways:

1. Accept your actions or new circumstances, changing your beliefs so that they correspond to the new picture of the world.
2. Change your behavior so as to maintain your previous settings.
3. Change your environment (for example, change jobs or stop contacts with acquaintances whose behavior does not correspond to your views on life).

Usually our psyche overcomes the contradiction by adjusting beliefs to new circumstances (that is, in the first way). Knowing all three methods, you can decide for yourself which option is better in a particular situation. But keep in mind that having made a choice, you can no longer doubt its correctness.

It is important to take into account that such obstacles may arise as:

• Inconveniences when changing behavior. For example, breaking a bad habit can be quite painful.
• Losses when changing environment. If you decide to change jobs to resolve cognitive dissonance, this is fraught with a decrease in income.
• Ambivalent attitude towards the situation. Let's say you don't like the place where you meet your friends, but you don't want to give up meeting. At the same time, you understand that this is the only place that is convenient for the whole company.
• Inability to change behavior. Quitting addiction is usually very difficult. It happens that a person is full of determination, but the very next day he realizes that he cannot cope. It is also very difficult to change behavior for people who are characterized by impulsiveness and mood swings.
• The impossibility of changing external circumstances. Not everything can be influenced. For example, not everyone has the opportunity to change their place of residence or job. Not everyone will decide to limit communication with their closest relatives either.

In all these cases, there is only one option left - changing your attitude to the situation. Usually our psyche resolves cognitive dissonance in this way. But if you analyze everything in advance and understand that this is the optimal solution to the problem, it will be much easier to get rid of the internal conflict.

Resonance is...

The concept of resonance was first introduced in the 16th century by Galilio Galei, when he was studying the work of pendulums and musical strings.

Translated from Latin, the word “resonance” literally means “ I respond ” and is a physical phenomenon in which one’s own oscillatory movements become forced and increase their amplitude, thus responding to environmental influences.

In simple words, resonance is a response to a certain stimulus from the outside. This is the synchronization of oscillation frequencies (the number of oscillations per second) of a certain system and the external force acting on it, which entails an increase in the amplitude of oscillations of this system.

Resonance can be described as follows:

1. imagine a certain physical body that is either in a state of absolute rest or makes amplitude movements of a certain frequency;
2. this body suddenly begins to be influenced by a certain external force that has its own amplitude and frequency;
3. if the frequencies of the body and the external force coincide, then the amplitude of the body will begin to increase.

For example , everyone knows how a swing “works”. First, you make a sharp push with your feet from the ground, and the swing begins to move back and forth. If you do not interfere with this process, then after a while they will stop.

But if, while sitting on them, you adapt to their movement with your whole body (neither faster nor slower), then the amplitude of the movements of the swing will begin to increase on its own. In this case, you, or rather your movements, are an external influence, a compelling force, with the help of which the swing soars higher.

Even the smallest external influence can increase the amplitude of movements of a certain system many times over when their frequencies coincide. From the example of a swing: a small child can swing an adult even with a very large weight if he adapts to the movement of the swing.

To better understand what resonance is, let's look at its antonym. It is the word “ dissonance ” (from the Latin “discordant”), which means discrepancy, discrepancy.

Let’s take a swing again as an example: if you start jerking it sharply and chaotically back and forth, the smooth, swinging vibrations will soon disappear and the swing will stop. Another simple example: if you go outside in a fur coat in the summer, it will be dissonant, since the weather does not match your outfit.