Key Takeaways ● Cognitive dissonance is the mental discomfort you feel when your beliefs and your behaviour do not match. ● The term comes from Leon Festinger, who published A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance in 1957. ● Festinger treated the discomfort as a drive, similar to hunger or thirst. It pushes you to act until it goes away. ● People usually remove the discomfort the cheapest way available, which is changing the belief rather than the behavio