Friday, August 12, 2016

Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance: the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change.

MLM automatons have a set of programmed commands and responses to all topics.  This programming is constantly being updated and confirmed at each household meeting, seminar, and conference by their uplines.  They are consistently and relentlessly hammered with MLM jargon until it becomes a part of their being.  

Cognitive Dissonance can be healthy! Have you ever been to the gym and wondered how you were going to get that last rep? Your body is tired and your mind is screaming "Quit!, Give up!, Try again next time!", yet you continue to push forward in an effort to better yourself.  This is a form of cognitive dissonance, but it is healthy because you are trying to improve yourself from a previous best.

In life we are constantly bombarded with decisions, and most of them involve a list of pro's and con's that are processed extremely quickly. You may not even realize, but it can be as simple as choosing which cereal to pick out at the store, or as complex as which university to attend.  All of your decisions have some kind of cognitive dissonance which pushes to take action and make a decision.

Cognitive Dissonance in MLM is BAD!!! An MLMer being confronted with glaringly bad facts about their business uses cognitive dissonance to stray away from the reality.  An MLMer may be told or even realize they are losing money, yet they will suggest that they are providing ground work for a better future.  An MLMer may be told about the 99% failure rate of their company, but then say statistics are meant to be broken. These MLMers are constantly being programmed to take very bad information and turn it into a tolerable positive even if it isn't plausible.

It is important to realize that cognitive dissonance is an extremely powerful tool, and when harnessed to its full potential is relatively impossible to change.  This is why we have successful businessmen, athletes, doctors, lawyers, etc. Those people were able to channel all negatives that were coming at them (including from themselves) and still fight for what they believe in. It is just as powerful when MLMers believe in their "businesses".

2 comments:

  1. Cognitive dissonance and Amway IBOs go hand in hand. LOL

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  2. Yes, but it is important to remember that cognitive dissonance is very important in helping us to be functioning human beings. If you were to tell an Amway IBO about their cognitive dissonance and why it is bad, rather than just say they have it as though cognitive dissonance is a plague, it may be a more effective means to snap them out of their nonsense.

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