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cognitive dissonance

an unpleasant psychological state resulting from inconsistency between two or more elements in a cognitive system. It is presumed to involve a state of heightened arousal and to have characteristics similar to physiological drives (e.g., hunger). Thus, cognitive dissonance creates a motivational drive in an individual to reduce the dissonance (see dissonance reduction). See also cognitive consonance. [first described by Leon Festinger]

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Psychology term of the day

March 29th 2024

allocortex

allocortex

n. those regions of the cerebral cortex that are phylogenetically older and have fewer than six main layers of cells. The allocortex is involved primarily in olfactory functions and limbic functions related to memory and emotion, and it comprises the three-layered archicortex (or archipallium), found mostly in the hippocampus, and the four- or five-layered paleocortex (or paleopallium), found mostly in the pyriform area and parahippocampal gyrus. Compare neocortex.