MOST OF US have experienced conflicting beliefs at one time or another. For instance, you know that drinking too much alcohol is bad for your health, but you pour yourself a second glass of wine ...

4."When the pandemic started, a friend of mine got really obsessed with the fact that you can't leave your home or go near people without a mask — but it never reflected in his own actions. He judged ...

Conversation among us is peppered with observations of the division within the American population. The division is revealed in a number of forms. It may be the acknowledgement of the political gap ...

The author's favorite celebrities made smoking seem cool. Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons Have you ever wanted to do something that you knew was bad for you? I once wanted to smoke cigarettes. My ...

These “mind traps” shape how we see the world, make decisions, and interact with others. The good news? Recognizing them is ...

Elicitation is a technique to obtain sensitive information without asking direct questions. Direct questions trigger defensive responses to protect information people would prefer to remain unsaid.

One of the great mysteries in both religion and politics is why people continue to hold on to fervently cherished beliefs in spite of evidence contrary to those beliefs. I will give some examples in ...

In my roles as a CIO, entrepreneur, investor and Professor (I teach a course at Berklee called “The Innovator’s DNA”), I think about innovation constantly. I know from personal experience (”What ...

After Mass on Sunday, our priest took a moment to relay a message from our bishop regarding the upcoming off-year elections here in Virginia. The Church, of course, goes to great lengths to avoid ...

The new year is a chance to forgive ourselves for past mistakes and consider how to replace the discomfort of cognitive ...

One of the intriguing aspects of the public trade debate has long been cognitive dissonance—the ability to hold conflicting viewpoints simultaneously. This has been illustrated recently in two polls, ...

If nations can suffer from cognitive dissonance just as individuals can, it’s easy to see why we elected Donald Trump. A good place to start thinking about this is football: As I often do in late ...