The Outcome Of The 2016 Election Essay - 1625 Words

The outcome of the 2016 election came as a surprise to many, pleasant to some and unpleasant to others. However, when looking at the theories and ideas in political psychology, the election of Republican nominee Donald Trump over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is not entirely shocking. Cognitive dissonance theory, schemas and heuristics, and social influence, specifically conformity, can all help to explain why Donald Trump is America’s new president-elect. Cognitive dissonance is defined as â€Å"when people encounter an inconsistency between any two cognitions† (Haas, Lecture, October 11, 2016). These conflicting attitudes, beliefs, and values produce discomfort. The rules of cognitive dissonance theory by Leon Festinger state that the two cognitions must be relevant. If relevant, they can either be dissonant or consonant. Dissonance causes negative control and people will be motivated to reduce this (Haas, Lecture, October 11, 2016). One study by Brock and Ballou n (1962) found that cognitive dissonance does indeed occur. In the experiment, students were given the option of listening to a message the whole way through or to push a button that muted the message for any length of time. The study found that people who smoked pushed the button to mute the message during messages that discussed the link between cancer and smoking. Additionally, those who identified as strongly Christian muted a message that attempted to debunk Christianity for a longer period of time thanShow MoreRelatedPresidential Election : Obama And Mitt Romney995 Words   |  4 Pageshistory of the United States, the 2016 election cycle is the 57th presidential election, yet it could be the strangest of them all. In contrast, the 2012 election between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney was a relatively tame and mundane election. It was decided by two elements, just as the 2016 election will be decided by. 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