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The study of cognitive biases tells us that we 
process information subjectively.

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Sometimes to the extent that our perceptions 
get distorted,

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clouding ‘simple and objective’ facts like the 
amount of violations in a football match.

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Having cognitive biases is in many cases a very 
effective and healthy phenomenon

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because people simple can not handle balanced 
processing of all input.

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Can you imagine being conscious all the time of 
all your senses?

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You’ll probably be overwhelmed in seconds!

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Therefore it’s great that our mind is able to 
subconsciously make

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all of these processing decisions.

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Although we may be inclined to see biases as 
limitations,

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we could also view them as cognitive shortcuts 
since they speed up information processing.

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Perhaps the best known theory about cognitive 
biases is the theory of cognitive dissonance.

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Cognitive Dissonance is a theory from 
psychology that explains how people handle

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conflicting feelings, ideas or beliefs. I’ll explain 
with an example.

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Roger feels he is a well-read intellectual. His 
friends start talking about the classic book

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War and Peace. Everyone has read it except 
Roger.

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The belief that he is a well-read intellectual 
clashes with the fact that he is the only one

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amongst his friends who hasn’t read this 
classic.

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The theory predicts that Roger will try to avoid 
the discomfort of this cognitive dissonance.

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He can do this in three ways.

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1) By making one of the discordant factors less 
important,

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2) By adding new elements to his beliefs that 
make the picture fit,

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or, in other words, create consonance,

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3) And finally by changing one clashing factors.

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So, to avoid cognitive dissonance Roger could 
say: Well, who cares if I’m well read.

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It’s not that important! Or: Not having read one 
classic hardly makes me illiterate!

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Or, he could create consonance by adding new 
elements to his beliefs.

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For instance by thinking that, being an 
intellectual,

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he obviously hangs out with other well-read 
intellectuals.

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It’s therefore not surprising that his friends have 
read the classic.

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Finally he could change his view: either by 
thinking

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'Apparently I’m not that well-read' or thinking

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'War and Peace is actually greatly 
overestimated as a work of literature'.

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The theory explains how people balance their 
beliefs with reality.

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Sometimes this can lead to enormous opinion 
changes.

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The classic example of this is the fable of the 
Fox and the Grapes by Aesop.

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In the English translation: “Driven by hunger, a 
fox tried to reach some grapes hanging high on

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the vine but was unable to, although he leaped 
with all his strength. As he went away,

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the fox remarked, 'Oh, you aren't even ripe yet! I 
don't need any sour grapes.'”

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Aesop sums up the moral of the story.

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“People who speak disparagingly of things that 
they cannot attain would do well to apply

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this story to themselves”. The fox had clearly 
reduced cognitive dissonance

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by changing his beliefs, which was the third 
option,

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and deciding that the grapes he had craved 
before were actually sour.

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On a side note, this is also the origin of the 
expression ‘sour grapes’.