GLOSSARY TERMS Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously.

. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance. They do this by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and actions.[2] Dissonance is also reduced by justifying, blaming, and denying. The phrase was coined by Leon Festinger Selective search for evidence (a.k.a. Confirmation bias in psychology) (Scott Plous, 1993) willingness to gather facts that support certain conclusions but disregard other facts that support different conclusions. Premature termination of search for evidence We tend to accept the first alternative that looks like it might work. Inertia Unwillingness to change thought patterns that we have used in the past in the face of new circumstances. Selective perception We actively screen-out information that we do not think is important. Wishful thinking or optimism bias We tend to want to see things in a positive light and this can distort our perception and thinking. Choice-supportive bias occurs when we distort our memories of chosen and rejected options to make the chosen options seem more attractive. Recency We tend to place more attention on more recent information and either ignore or forget more distant information. The opposite effect in the first set of data or other information is termed Primacy effect (Plous, 1993). Repetition bias A willingness to believe what we have been told most often and by the greatest number of different sources. Anchoring and adjustment Decisions are unduly influenced by initial information that shapes our view of subsequent information. Group think Peer pressure to conform to the opinions held by the group. Source credibility bias We reject something if we have a bias against the person, organization, or group to which the person belongs: We are inclined to accept a statement by someone we like. Incremental decision making and escalating commitment We look at a decision as a small step in a process and this tends to perpetuate a series of similar decisions. Role fulfillment (Self Fulfilling Prophecy) We conform to the decision making expectations that others have of someone in our position.

Illusion of control We tend to underestimate future uncertainty because we tend to believe we have more control over events than we really do. We believe we have control to minimize potential problems in our decisions The Pygmalion effect, or Rosenthal effect, refers to the phenomenon in which the greater the expectation placed upon people, often children or students and employees, the better they perform. The Pygmalion effect is a form of self-fulfilling prophecy, and, in this respect, people with poor expectations internalize their negative label, and those with positive labels succeed accordingly. Biofeedback is the process of becoming aware of various physiological functions using instruments that provide information on the activity of those same systems, with a goal of being able to manipulate them at will.[1][2] Processes that can be controlled include brainwaves, muscle tone, skin conductance, heart rate and pain perception. Biofeedback may be used to improve health or performance, and the physiological changes often occur in conjunction with changes to thoughts, emotions, and behavior. Eventually, these changes can be maintained without the use of extra equipment. Biofeedback has been found to be effective for the treatment of headaches and migraines Spillover Effect: Spillover Effect refers to the tendency of one person's emotion to affect how other people around them feel. For example, the teacher received a phone call that his wife was pregnant with a muchawaited baby. He goes into class happy and excited, and although he doesn't tell his class about the good news, his good mood rubs off on his students and they feel happy as well. Classical Conditioning: First proposed and studied by Ivan Pavlov, classical conditioning is one form of learning in which an organism "learns" through establishing associations between different events and stimuli. For example, when a neutral stimulus (such as a bell) is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (such as food) which produces some involuntary bodily response all on its own (such as salivating), the neutral stimulus begins to trigger a response by the organism similar (some salivation) to that produced by the unconditioned stimulus. In this way, the organism has "learned" that the neutral stimulus equals something good (just like the unconditioned stimulus). Observational learning (also known as: vicarious learning or social learning or modeling) is learning that occurs as a function of observing, retaining and replicating behavior observed in others.