TOEFL Speaking Task 3

The concept of 'cognitive dissonance' refers to the mental discomfort experienced when a person holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time. To reduce this discomfort, individuals often change their beliefs, add new ones, or trivialize the inconsistency. Cognitive dissonance theory, proposed by Leon Festinger, suggests that humans have an innate drive to maintain internal consistency. For example, if a person values health but smokes cigarettes, the contradiction may lead to rationalizing the behavior, such as downplaying the health risks.

Professor: Today, let's look at a real-world case. I had a student named Sarah who loved running and considered herself very health-conscious. However, she also had a habit of eating fast food every day after training. One day, she read an article linking fast food to poor heart health. This made her feel uneasy because her actions contradicted her value of health. To resolve this, she didn't stop eating fast food; instead, she started telling herself that she burned so many calories while running that the fast food didn't matter. She also began to seek out articles that claimed occasional fast food was harmless. Over time, she even convinced herself that fast food was a necessary source of energy for her runs. Her belief about her healthiness remained intact, but her perception of fast food's impact changed.