Cognitive dissonance is disharmony manifested within the human mind, and is quite annoying. Eliot and Devine (1994) sought out to prove that this dissonance that brings us to a disagreeable state of mind is essentially motivation processes at work. More importantly however their work suggested, and to some degree proved, that this mental stress can be effectively reduced by some sort of reduction strategy. For myself self-affirmations, as suggested by the authors, has proven beneficial. The purpose of this essay is to relate a specific and personal incident where cognitive dissonance was reduced by using self-affirming behavior as an agent for restoring my peace of mind.

For some reason I have always feared heights and as a little child often dreamt of horrible scenes where I would climb to enormous heights, only to fall to the ground. I would often become nervous by simply being near a tall building or...
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