How to Coach Yourself and Others How to Influence, Persuade and Motivate | Page 191

Maintaining Psychological Consistency
We find what we seek. If we can't find it, we make it up.
In politics, members of different parties will refuse to peaceably or
tolerantly listen to opposing party commercials. Smokers won't read
articles about the dangers of smoking. Drug users don't spend much time
at clinics. We don't want to find information that might oppose our current
points of view.
“Buyer’s remorse”:
When we purchase a product or service, we tend to look for ways to
convince ourselves that we made the right decision. If the people around
us or other factors make us question our decision, we experience buyer’s
remorse. On feeling this inconsistency, we’ll look for anything—facts,
peer validation, expert opinion—to reduce the dissonance in our minds
concerning the purchase. Some of us even use selective exposure to
minimize the risk of seeing or hearing something that could cause
dissonance