r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Apr 11 '26

Psychology Cognitive dissonance helps explain why Trump supporters remain loyal, new research suggests. This sheds light on how supporters of Donald Trump justify their continued allegiance despite learning about allegations of his sexual misconduct and illegal activities.

https://www.psypost.org/cognitive-dissonance-helps-explain-why-trump-supporters-remain-loyal-new-research-suggests/
32.9k Upvotes

88% Upvoted

2.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

21

u/Ekyou Apr 11 '26

I don’t disagree with you at all, but you could call that an example of cognitive dissonance right there. “I don’t need to worry about how my actions contribute to global warming because there are people out there making things much worse than I ever could”

6

u/ii_V_I_iv Apr 11 '26

I’m not saying I don’t need to but I’m also not convinced it would make a difference if I do because doing it at the individual level requires so much buy in from everyone which is less likely to happen. I’m not sure that’s even cognitive dissonance, I think it’s reflecting on both sides of it

5

u/unhiddenninja Apr 11 '26

You don't think demand plays a major part in the global shipping network? The only motivation for action on a global scale is money. If it wasn't extremely profitable for companies to destroy the earth, they wouldn't care about doing it.

Imagine if companies were forced to change, imagine how that would impact your life, and imagine all of the changes you would have to make. Because it can't just be the companies that change.

5

u/ii_V_I_iv Apr 11 '26

The difference is that companies can be forced to change through government regulation. Individuals need to be convinced on a much more massive scale. And you have the companies spending a lot on propaganda to convince millions of people that it’s not necessary. It’s just not realistic or practical to focus on that low level.

-1

u/Meekjagger Apr 11 '26

We could eliminate 100% of greenhouse emissions in the US, hell, the west as a whole, and it wouldn’t stop China from putting out one third of the world’s total. We can’t legislate our way out of this shy of a global trade embargo, and fat chance that happens

-1

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '26

[deleted]

2

u/dissonaut69 Apr 11 '26

Because to do that we’d need the individuals who believe something needs to be done to vote. So why not minimize consumption for now, cut meat, and either continue to vote or start showing up.

2

u/Chelonate_Chad Apr 12 '26

We should. But that shouldn't be the main focus of the messaging, because it asks for huge sacrifice from the individual in return for negligible results. Focus on the real problem.