cognitive dissonance

Mario Livio著　"Brilliant Blunders" を読んでいます。

At a somewhat deeper stratum, Kelvin's blunder probably stemmed from a well-recognized psychological trait: The more committed we are to a certain opinion, the less likely we are to relinquish it, even if confronted with massive contradictory evidence. (Does the phrase "weapons of mass destruction" ring a bell?) The theory of cognitive dissonance, originally developed by psychologist Leon Festinger, deals precisely with those feelings of discoumfort that people experience when presented with information that is inconsistent with their beliefs. Multiple studies show that to relieve cognitive dissonance, in many cases, instead of acknowledging an error in judgement, people tend to reformulate their views in a new way that justifies their old opinions.

辞書での "cognitive dissonance" の説明を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Psychology; The state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change.: ‘They often underpin what psychologists call cognitive dissonance - the process of holding two mutually exclusive beliefs without noticing the inherent opposition.’

・Collins Dictionary: an uncomfortable mental state resulting from conflicting cognitions; usually resolved by changing some of the cognitions: First-class rail tickets for dedicated egalitarians are a comic example of cognitive dissonance.

・Merriam-Webster: psychological conflict resulting from incongruous beliefs and attitudes held simultaneously: There’s some real cognitive dissonance going on regarding COVID-19 vaccines.

Merriam-Websterの例文ではコロナ禍での自粛要請の最中にGoToキャンペーンが出たことを思い出しました。世の中には矛盾が多くて分からないことだらけです。戦後に作られた憲法は日本国民の平等、自由をモットーにしていると理解していたのですが、のっけから第一条で、特別な権利を持ち、一般の日本人が有している権利は持っていない人間の定義になっているのが私にとっては "cognitive dissonance" であり理解しがたい憲法です。