The Honest Liar: Episode #4

Originally published 2.23.10

This week’s episode of For Good Reason features Carol Tavris, author of the book Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me). The social psychologist describes dissonance theory and how self-justification and self-deception often keep people from changing their minds even in the light of compelling contrary evidence, because the evidence is often dissonant with one’s self-image. She details the implications of dissonance theory for the persistence of psychic charlatans and other peddlers of the paranormal, and how it may explain how someone like Sylvia Brown can live with herself, and also how it may explain how believers remain so gullible about such unsupportable claims.

Cognitive Dissonance: http://www.skepdic.com/cognitivedissonance.html