Early research on attitudes assumed that they were causally related to behavior— that is, the attitudes people hold determine what they do. Cognitive dissonance is any incompatibility between two or more attitudes or between behavior and attitudes. People seek a stable consistency among their attitudes and between their attitudes and their behavior. Any form of inconsistency is uncomfortable, and individuals therefore attempt to reduce or minimize it.

When there is dissonance, people alter either their attitudes or behavior to minimize the dissonance, or they develop a rationalization for the discrepancy. Recent research found, for instance, that the attitudes of employees who had emotionally challenging work events improved after they talked about their experiences with coworkers. The desire to reduce dissonance depends on three factors, including the importance of the elements creating dissonance and the degree of influence we believe we have over the elements.

Individuals are more motivated to reduce dissonance when the attitudes are important or when they believe the dissonance is due to something they can control. Important attitudes reflect our fundamental values, self-interest, or identification with individuals or groups we value. These attitudes tend to show a strong relationship to our behavior. However, discrepancies between attitudes and behaviors tend to occur when social pressures to behave in certain ways hold exceptional power, as in most organizations.

You’re more likely to remember attitudes you frequently express, and attitudes that our memories can easily access are more likely to predict our behavior. The attitude–behavior relationship is also likely to be much stronger when we have direct personal experience.