Bence Nanay
Cognitive dissonance was originally defined as a "nonfitting relation between cognitions," which gives rise to an unpleasant feeling. And this unpleasant feeling leads to a behavioral change. My aim in this paper is to argue that many phenomena that are standardly explained in terms of cognitive dissonance are in fact examples of what I call "conative dissonance:" conflict or "nonfitting relation" not between two cognitive states but between a cognitive and a conative state. I argue that explanations in terms of conative dissonance have significant benefits over explanations in terms of cognitive dissonance.