This happens when a consumer makes a decision to purchase an item and, shortly after, experiences guilt over the choice, wondering if the other equally appealing item might have brought greater satisfaction.Cognitive dissonance can occur across multiple product lines as well as a competitor's products. Marketers may also use persuasive marketing, including humor or celebrity appearances in commercials, as a means of encouraging consumers to associate positive emotions with purchasing the company's products. Advertisers, marketers, and public relations pros purposely create cognitive dissonance … This leads to longer-lasting business relationships and raises the chances of repeat purchases in the future.Cognitive dissonance occurs when tension arises between a person's attitudes or beliefs and a decision that contradicts those pre-existing modes of thinking. This is usually an uncomfortable feeling for the consumer and usually leads to the buyer taking her money elsewhere or experiencing remorse over the purchase. In the course of a visit to a high-end auto dealership, the salesperson emphasizes that "a lot of Americans aren't sophisticated enough to understand why this car is actually a great buy." For instance, a company may sell something to give a part of the proceeds to charity, and for that purpose, may send their sales-people to stop pedestrians and ask them to buy their product. Marketers seek to prop up the buyer's emotional status through reassuring post-purchase services, including a money-back guarantee or free product service for the life of the purchase. Understanding the effects of cognitive dissonance on consumer behavior is a new frontier for influence marketing and can be used offensively as well as defensively. The workplace is prone to causing cognitive dissonance, especially if you witness a situation that goes against your ethical views or beliefs. The end result can be active disdain for the product or the company that makes the product, along with the ad itself.I am a retired Registered Investment Advisor with 12 years experience as head of an investment management firm. But if the distance between the consumer's view and that offered through the marketing strategy is too great, the consumer may reject the approach and the product. An offender beats their partner. Cognitive Dissonance Examples in the Workplace. Followers ascertained that the 22 October date was indeed correct, but that the “sanctuary” referred to in There have been several experiments held to understand the complex nature of Studies where people are asked to behave in ways that are contrary to their beliefs.Studies of how we seek out information that is harmonious with our current views rather than information which challenges our views, so to avoid the feeling of cognitive dissonance.Studies of how people respond when confronted with information that challenges long-held beliefs and attitudes.Postdecisional studies: after a decision has is made, the opinions surrounding of the rejected alternatives are studied.People go to great lengths to find reasons to justify decisions/actions. If you're a conservative, you agree with the governor's refusal to grant yet one more opportunity to an already convicted felon. When consumers feel good about purchasing a company's products, there's a lower chance that dissonance will occur.A buyer can experience remorse over a product purchase at any point in the sales experience, including well after the consumer makes the purchase decision. We might ordinarily not buy the product because it doesn't interest us, too expensive or for any other good reason. You might be frustrated that you have to take a minute to interact with this stranger who wants your attention, but that is far better than walking on and ignoring the person. There's no need to feel defensive about it; many consumers feel some form of purchase anxiety, with the intensity usually rising in tandem with the price of a product or service.This anxiety often manifests itself in the form of questions such as:You might regard buyer's remorse – the acute anxiety that might prompt a consumer to return a sports car to a dealership within 48 hours – as an example of cognitive dissonance, but buyer's remorse is like a second cousin to cognitive dissonance, related but different.Understanding cognitive dissonance can work to the advantage of small-business owners.Obviously, you don't want to trip the wires of cognitive dissonance in your advertising.The better you know your customers, the easier it is to answer questions such as:Now go back to the three key change states and decide if you can change their beliefs, actions or the way they perceive their actions.In the meantime, there are plenty of practical steps you can take to quell the potential for cognitive dissonance in your marketing – in other words, to lower consumers' perceived risk and engender their trust:If you're feeling clever, you can follow the lead of a well-known snack food maker that knew it was futile to market chocolate chip cookies as diet or health food.Instead, it cheated cognitive dissonance by packaging the snacks in 100-calorie portions for a wickedly delightful chapter in the annals of dissonance marketing.Mary Wroblewski came of age as a reporter and editor in some of Chicago's scrappiest newsrooms but softened up long enough to write nine children's books as well as one nonfiction tome.