Sarah has always strongly believed that it is wrong to steal. But after she steals a bottle of nail polish from the drugstore, her attitude toward stealing becomes significantly less harsh. What best accounts for her shift in attitude?

Cognitive dissonance

Explanation:Cognitive dissonance occurs when one starts to have a conflicting beliefs , behavior and attitudes.

This lead to discomfort and a person realises they need to make a change by altering their attitudes or beliefs so that they can't feel that discomfort and can regain balance. Since Sara has done something that goes against her beliefs , she has to alter her beliefs to eliminate feeling guilty.

She has dicided to establish consonance between what she expects and reality.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Explanation:

At first, Sarah strongly believed it's wrong to steal, but after stealing a nail polish her mind set about stealing changed, this can be explained as Cognitive Dissonance

In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance can be defined as the psychological state when a person holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, values, or participates in an action that goes against one of these.

Dissonance is an unavoidable consequence of making a decision. Cognitive Dissonance Theory suggests that when a person's beliefs and desires conflict, they will experience discomfort as they become aware of the inconsistency.

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