Annotated Bibliography

Aronson, E., & Tavris, C. (2020, July 14). The role of cognitive dissonance in the pandemic.

The Atlantic. Retrieved April 14, 2022, from https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/

2020/07/role-cognitive-dissonance-pandemic/614074/

This article explores how cognitive dissonance is displayed during the COVID-19

pandemic and the lasting consequences of ignorance in humans. In particular, the authors

discuss how humans are unwilling to change their minds and refuse to wear masks and

practice social distancing. They point out that people would rather jeopardize their health

and the health of others, than admit to being wrong or to accept new information, and this

is because of their cognitive dissonance. The authors go on to explain the origin of

cognitive dissonance and describe that it is present any time we make a decision, which

we then begin to justify and refuse to believe any alternatives. Cognitive dissonance

builds on the fact that people don’t like to be wrong or told what is true. Especially now,

COVID-19 decisions have been associated with politics rather than medicine, which only

leads to a further divide. The authors concluded that we have to adapt and be willing to

give up some beliefs and practices, not only about the pandemic but about decisions in

general, otherwise we will remain a stubborn and divided society.

Bond, C. (2021, January 9). How MLMs use the same mind control techniques as cults.

HuffPost. Retrieved April 14, 2022, from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/multilevel-

marketing- companies-mlms-cults-similarities_l_5d49f8c2e4b09e72973df3d3

This article follows a woman who was a victim of a pyramid-type scheme. She wanted to

start her own business and multilevel marketing companies made promises that they

didn’t fulfill. These MLMs make great offers and tie them up with a bow, but the

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 participants see little to no earnings, while the salespeople collect enormous bonuses and

commissions simply by making a sale. The author goes on to explain that MLMs are no

different than cults and they only serve to benefit themselves. Steven Hassan, a mental

health counselor and leading expert on cults and mind control, explained that these

MLMs are similar to the people in power who take advantage of their position and the

people they hold power over, and are seen widely in politics. They shower you with great

promise and once you are hooked, they strive to disrupt your ability to think

independently and rationally. He mentions four types of controls MLMs use to grab

participants: Behavior control, information control, thought control, and emotional

control. The author concludes by explaining the techniques the MLMs use and the tactics

that are commonly used.

Grant, Flores, A., Pedersen, E. J., Sherman, D. K., & Van Boven, L. (2021). When election

expectations fail: Polarized perceptions of election legitimacy increase with

accumulating evidence of election outcomes and with polarized media. PloS One, 16(12),

e0259473–e0259473. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259473

The researchers conducted a study immediately following the 2020 election results and

examined whether Republicans’ and Democrats’ polarized assessments of election

legitimacy increased over time. They discuss how the people put their faith in the system

and the legitimacy of the election results, but following the 2020 election there was a

clear divide among the people. This led to a decrease in the trust of the government, mass

protests, and violence, which contributed to the polarization of America. Their

experiment found that in situations where people have strong feelings of real world

events, the cognitive dissonance theory plays a major role. The author goes on to discuss

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 that the media plays a large role in the polarization of America, and these media outlets

provide polarized information which influences our opinions. The author concludes that

understanding and improving media engagement may lead to a decrease in polarized

perceptions, but that won’t change the clear divide between, not only political parties, but

between the people in our society.

Simas, Clifford, S., & Kirkland, J. H. (2020). How Empathic Concern Fuels Political

Polarization. The American Political Science Review, 114(1), 258–269.

https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055419000534

The author discusses how, as of recently, America has experienced a significant increase

in partisan social polarization due to a lack of empathetic concern. Following the 2016

election, there isn’t just a divide among the political parties. Simply the act of supporting

one party over another has led to the trigger of emotional responses and behaviors

because people harbor significant negative feelings towards anyone who opposes their

view. This polarization has led to distrust in the government and discrimination in

nonpolitical domains. There is a wide lack of empathy among people and this has led to

prejudices and stigmatization across the country. There is an “us versus them” mentality

in the country and these researchers found that empathy may not be as effective as they

believed. They found that there is only an increase in empathy with those who have

similar beliefs. They display an unwillingness to compromise with those of differing

views and have significant negative attitudes towards bipartisanship. The author

concludes that while empathy may help in some cases, it is not the overall answer for

reducing polarization and the clear divide in society.

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