Cognitive Dissonance

How can cognitive dissonance help you as a communicator?

Cognitive dissonance is defined as avoiding ideas that interfere with basic beliefs and values.  Communicators can reduce cognitive dissonance especially by appealing to young adults.  For instance, billboards that display ads concerning drunk driving and deaths related to not wearing a seatbelt can greatly reduce the number of accidents and injuries they cause.  This is considered to promote a positive change in ethics, morals, and beliefs.  Most times the media tries to sway teens to do things in order to fit into a certain group or image.  By showing real life issues that affect them, communicators can manipulate them into believing what they originally set out to prove.