Dissonance Case

In today’s society persuasion is the way of life in fact persuasion happens every time we turn on the television, listen to the radio, and even gaining employment are all accomplished by way of persuasion. Persuasion causes cognitive dissonance when tension between one’s own moral judgment and what their being told or treated by another individual. Cognitive dissonance is a psychological term used to describe the mental conflict that occurs when beliefs or assumptions are contradicted by new information. Arouses unease or tension; relieved by one of several defensive maneuvers: rejecting, explaining away or avoiding new information; persuading self that no conflict really exist; reconciling differences; or resorting to any other defensive means of preserving stability or order in conception of world and of self; first introduced in 1950s; has become a major point of discussion and research in psychology (as cited in Compton’s interactive Encyclopedia, 1996). The tension caused by issues that are against ones moral judgment can be redirected in a non-violent way and still obtain the same outcome as violent actions for instance the letter written by Dr. Martin Luther King titled A Letter From a Birmingham Jail shows you the tension that could be created by certain situations, but carefully throughout plans and actions of non-violence can persuade others into seeing the unjust that is being performed and also lead those out to scared to speak up or assist in obtaining equal justice for all.

Dr. Martin Luther King uses his time while in a Birmingham jail to point out the law could be a statement to hide the true intentions of those creating the law to hinder and oppress and deny a certain race of people the constitutional rights. The letter was very affective in pointing out that until action is taken the oppressed will never be released by their oppressor, because nothing is voluntarily done until those being oppressed take action and that action has