Práticas de debate em mídias sociais e dissonância cognitiva: uma proposta de classificação

Abstract

The Cognitive Dissonance Theory (CDT) was first presented by Leon Festinger in 1957. Cognitive dissonance is the state of psychological discomfort of a person with discrepant cognitions. This discomfort generates a motivation for the person to use strategies to deal with this dissonance. The first chapter of this work presents the main characteristics of CDT, starting from Festinger's initial proposals and resorting to more recent authors to reflect on the development and current challenges of this theory. In the second chapter, considering the low quality and common conflicts in online interactions, research is presented that aimed to develop a classification system for practices used in internet debates. Comments (N = 438) of two YouTube videos with opposing positions on the scientificity of psychoanalysis were analyzed. With content analyses, the comments were classified in relation to the positioning (Favorable, Contrary or Neutral), type of debate practice (Good Practice, Bad Practice or Both Practices) and the specific type of Bad Practice (Generalisms, Disqualification, Avoidance, Divert and Distortion). In general, the results show similarities between the comments of the two videos, with a predominance of those categorized as favorable and that represent bad debate practices, among which Generalisms and Disqualification prevail. In the context of this work, the categories of Practices Used in Debates are considered as ways that people use to deal with the cognitive dissonance that arises in these activities. At the end, some considerations are offered regarding how the ways of dissonance reduction impact the correction of personal errors and the individual's adaptation to reality.