The Introspective Tug-of-War
Exercise #352 Exploring Cognitive Dissonance and Belief Evolution
Strategy:
Ever catch yourself thinking one thing and doing another? Welcome to the wonderfully messy world of cognitive dissonance! As writers, we often craft characters with rock-solid beliefs, but real people? We're walking contradictions, constantly grappling with conflicting ideas and evolving worldviews. By diving into the murky waters of internal conflict, we can create characters that feel authentically human—full of doubts, growth, and delightful inconsistencies. This exercise challenges you to embrace the contradictions, explore the uncomfortable space between conflicting beliefs, and maybe even find a way to bridge the gap. Ready to turn your characters' minds into philosophical battlegrounds?
Instructions:
Funny Contradictions: Write a humorous internal monologue exposing contradictions. Create a brief, amusing passage where a character's thoughts reveal how their actions don't always align with their stated beliefs. Focus on the character's attempts to justify or rationalize this disconnect.
Character with Character: Craft a character with unwavering convictions.
Introduce a new character by writing a paragraph that showcases their strong moral stance or philosophical outlook. This could be a deeply held ethical position or even a deliberate rejection of conventional morality.Challenging Experience: Put beliefs to the test. Describe a scene where your character from step 2 encounters a situation that directly challenges their core belief. Focus on the external events and the character's immediate, visceral reactions.
Record the Dissonance: Dive into the internal struggle. Write an introspective passage capturing the character's thoughts as they grapple with the contradiction between their long-held belief and their recent experience. Explore their confusion, defensiveness, or attempts to reconcile the conflicting ideas.
Synthesis: Resolve the internal conflict. Continue the introspective passage, showing how the character resolves their internal conflict. Choose one of three paths: doubling down on the original belief, fully embracing a new perspective, or finding a way to integrate both ideas into a new, synthesized worldview.
Writing with Two Minds: Reflect on your own creative conflicts. Write a short, honest reflection about a time when you felt conflicted about your writing. Perhaps you struggled with contradictory feedback, wrestled with impostor syndrome, or felt torn between commercial success and artistic integrity.
Tags: cognitive dissonance, character development, internal conflict, belief systems, humor, introspection, philosophy
Example:
Funny Contradictions:
I'm definitely not addicted to my phone. Nope. Not me. I just happen to check it every 30 seconds because... I'm a very in-demand person. Important stuff happening. Constantly. Like right now, I'm not mindlessly scrolling Instagram—I'm conducting vital market research on... cat memes. It's called being a responsible digital citizen, okay? And sure, I preach about "living in the moment" and "digital detoxes" to anyone who'll listen, but that's different. Do as I say, not as I—ooh, a notification!
Character with Character: Meet Evelyn Thorne, self-proclaimed ethical consumer and environmental warrior. Armed with a reusable coffee cup and an arsenal of eco-statistics, Evelyn approaches every purchase like a moral crusade. She'll lecture strangers about their plastic use, organize neighborhood clean-ups, and swears she can taste the difference between free-range and caged eggs. In Evelyn's world, there's no gray area—you're either saving the planet or destroying it.
Challenging Experience:
Evelyn stood frozen in the supermarket aisle, staring at the last package of her favorite veggie burgers. It was wrapped in layers of plastic that practically screamed "environmental disaster." As she reached for it, a child's cry pierced the air. Evelyn turned to see a frazzled mother, cart full of processed, prepackaged meals, trying to soothe a wailing toddler. Their eyes met, and in that moment, Evelyn saw exhaustion, struggle, and a silent plea for understanding.
Record the Dissonance:
What am I doing? It's just one package. But one package becomes millions in landfills. That poor mother, though. No, focus Evelyn! Environmental impact doesn't take a day off. But who am I to judge? I don't have kids. It must be so hard. No! That's just making excuses. But is it? Maybe there's more to this than... No. Clear cut. Plastic bad, always. Right? God, my head hurts. When did grocery shopping become a moral minefield? I just wanted dinner, not an existential crisis in frozen foods.
Synthesis:
Okay, breathe Evelyn. Maybe... maybe it's not all or nothing. What if... what if the goal isn't perfection, but progress? That mom's doing her best, just like I am. And maybe my best can include understanding as well as action. I can choose the veggie burgers today, but also look into starting a community garden, make eco-living more accessible. It's not about being perfect—it's about making conscious choices and helping others do the same. Compassion and conservation. Yeah. I can work with that.
Writing with Two Minds: You know what's funny? I spend my days writing characters who are hilariously self-unaware, yet here I am, constantly second-guessing every word I put on the page. One minute I'm cackling at my own jokes, convinced I'm the next Douglas Adams. The next, I'm drowning in self-doubt, wondering if I should give up and get a "real" job. Do I write what makes me laugh or what I think will sell? Am I a sellout if I consider the market? Am I a fool if I don't? Maybe the real satire is thinking I can have it all figured out. Perhaps embracing the uncertainty, the push-pull between art and commerce, is what keeps the writing fresh. Or maybe that's just what I tell myself to keep the existential dread at bay. Either way, the show must go on—right after I spend another hour agonizing over this one sentence.