1. Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 4
MK0016 – Advertising management &sales promotion - 4 Credits
Q1. Discuss the Visualisation strategy in advertising and the components of Visualisation strategy.
Ans : Visualization is any technique for creating images, diagrams, or animations to communicate a message. Visualization
through visual imagery has been an effective way to communicate both abstract and concrete ideas since the dawn of man.
Examples from history include cave paintings, Egyptian hieroglyphs, Greek geometry, and Leonardo da Vinci's revolutionary
methods of technical drawing for engineering and scientific purposes.
Visualization today has ever-expanding applications in science, education, engineering (e.g. product visualization), interactive
multimedia, medicine, etc. Typical of a visualization application is the field of computer graphics. The invention of computer
graphics may be the most important development in visualization since the invention of central perspective in the Renaissance
period. The development of animation also helped advance visualization
The use of visualization to present information is not a new phenomenon. It has been used in maps, scientific drawings, and
data plots for over a thousand years. Examples from cartography include Ptolemy's Geographia (2nd Century AD), a map of
China (1137 AD), and Minard's map (1861) of Napoleon's invasion of Russia half a century earlier. Most of the concepts
learned in devising these images carry over in a straight forward manner to computer visualization. Edward Tufte has written
two critically acclaimed books that explain many of these principles.
Computer graphics has from its beginning been used to study scientific problems. However, in its early days the lack of
graphics power often limited its usefulness. The recent emphasis on visualization started in 1987 with the special issue of
Computer Graphics on Visualization in Scientific Computing. Since then there have been several conferences and workshops,
co-sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society and ACM SIGGRAPH, devoted to the general topic, and special areas in the field,
for example volume visualization.
Most people are familiar with the digital animations produced to present meteorological data during weather reports on
television, though few can distinguish between those models of reality and the satellite photos that are also shown on such
programs. TV also offers scientific visualizations when it shows computer drawn and animated reconstructions of road or
airplane accidents. Some of the most popular examples of scientific visualizations are computer-generated images that show
real spacecraft in action, out in the void far beyond Earth, or on other planets. Dynamic forms of visualization, such as
educational animation or timelines, have the potential to enhance learning about systems that change over time.
Apart from the distinction between interactive visualizations and animation, the most useful categorization is probably between
abstract and model-based scientific visualizations. The abstract visualizations show completely conceptual constructs in 2D or
3D. These generated shapes are completely arbitrary. The model-based visualizations either place overlays of data on real or
digitally constructed images of reality, or they make a digital construction of a real object directly from the scientific data.
Scientific visualization is usually done with specialized software, though there are a few exceptions, noted below. Some of
these specialized programs have been released as Open source software, having very often its origins in universities, within an
academic environment where sharing software tools and giving access to the source code is common. There are also many
proprietary software packages of scientific visualization tools.
Models and frameworks for building visualizations include the data flow models popularized by systems such as AVS, IRIS
Explorer, and VTK toolkit, and data state models in spreadsheet systems such as the Spreadsheet for Visualization and
Spreadsheet for Images.
Applications of visualization
A scientific visualization of an extremely large simulation of a Raleigh-Taylor instability caused by two mixing fluids.As a subject
in computer science, data visualization or scientific visualization is the use of interactive, sensory representations, typically
visual, of abstract data to reinforce cognition, hypothesis building and reasoning.
Scientific visualization
Scientific visualization is the transformation, selection or representation of data from simulations or experiments, with an implicit
or explicit geometric structure, to allow the exploration, analysis and understanding of the data. It's a very important part of
visualization and maybe the first one, as the visualization of experiments and phenomena is as old as Science itself. Traditional

2. areas of Scientific Visualization are Flow Visualization, medical visualization, astrophysical visualization and chemical
visualization. There are several different techniques to visualize scientific data, with isosurface reconstruction and direct volume
rendering being the more common.
Educational visualization
Educational visualization is using a simulation normally created on a computer to create an image of something so it can be
taught about. This is very useful when teaching about a topic which is difficult to otherwise see, for example, atomic structure,
because atoms are far too small to be studied easily without expensive and difficult to use scientific equipment. It can also be
used to view past events, such as looking at dinosaurs, or looking at things that are difficult or fragile to look at in reality like the
human skeleton, without causing physical or mental harm to a subjective volunteer or cadaver.
Information visualization
Information visualization concentrates on the use of computer-supported tools to explore large amount of abstract data. The
term "information visualization" was originally coined by the User Interface Research Group at Xerox PARC and included Dr.
Jock Mackinlay. Practical application of information visualization in computer programs involves selecting, transforming and
representing abstract data in a form that facilitates human interaction for exploration and understanding. Important aspects of
information visualization are dynamics of visual representation and the interactivity. Strong techniques enable the user to
modify the visualization in real-time, thus affording unparalleled perception of patterns and structural relations in the abstract
data in question.
Knowledge visualization
The use of visual representations to transfer knowledge between at least two persons aims to improve the transfer of
knowledge by using computer and non-computer based visualization methods complementarily.[1] Examples of such visual
formats are sketches, diagrams, images, objects, interactive visualizations, information visualization applications and imaginary
visualizations as in stories. While information visualization concentrates on the use of computer-supported tools to derive new
insights, knowledge visualization focuses on transferring insights and creating new knowledge in groups. Beyond the mere
transfer of facts, knowledge visualization aims to further transfer insights, experiences, attitudes, values, expectations,
perspectives, opinions, and predictions by using various complementary visualizations.
Product Visualization
Product Visualization involves visualization software technology for the viewing and manipulation of 3D models, technical
drawing and other related documentation of manufactured components and large assemblies of products. It is a key part of
Product Lifecycle Management. Product visualization software typically provides high levels of photorealism so that a product
can be viewed before it is actually manufactured. This supports functions ranging from design and styling to sales and
marketing. Technical visualization is an important aspect of product development. Originally technical drawings were made by
hand, but with the rise of advanced computer graphics the drawing board has been replaced by computer-aided design (CAD).
CAD-drawings and models have several advantages over hand-made drawings such as the possibility of 3-D modeling, rapid
prototyping and simulation.
Visual communication
Visual communication is the communication of ideas through the visual display of information. Primarily associated with two
dimensional images, it includes: alphanumerics, art, signs, and electronic resources. Recent research in the field has focused
on web design and graphically oriented usability.
Visual analytics
Visual analytics focuses on human interaction with visualization systems as part of a larger process of data analysis. Visual
analytics has been defined as "the science of analytical reasoning supported by the interactive visual interface"
[2].
Its focus is on human information discourse (interaction) within massive, dynamically changing information spaces. Visual
analytics research concentrates on support for perceptual and cognitive operations that enable users to detect the expected
and discover the unexpected in complex information space.
Technologies resulting from visual analytics find their application in almost all fields, but are being driven by critical needs (and
funding) in biology and national security.
Q2. Describe the elements of execution of advertising in brief.

3. Ans : Delivery of the selected advertising concept has two aspects, creative and media execution. If the creative execution is
not right, even a brilliant idea will not be noticed. If the media vehicles andschedule are not right, then too the campaign will not
be noticed because it will not reach its target. Therefore, efficient planning of the content, media, and budget of a campaign are
vital for the success of a campaign.
Creative Execution
David Ogilvy said it for all times to come, ‘What you say is more important than how you say it.’ WilliamBernbach answered that
‘…execution can become content, it can be just as important as what you say…a sick guy can utter words and nothing
happens; a healthy vital guy says the same and they rock theworld.’How an advertising agency, rather the copywriters decide to express it to
make it ‘rock the world’, is anintuitive process that can hardly be structured or formatted. There are some basic rules. Copy should
beby and large honest, it should avoid exaggeration that actually hurts the brand in the long run, andshould avoid cliche’s and
over-used formats and concepts. Especially now, when people have so littletime, the target should not be required to ponder
over and do research on the message to comprehendit.Again, Bernbach has said it memorably.“Why should anyone look at your
ad? The reader does not buy his magazine or tune in his radio andtelevision to see and hear what you have to say…what is the
use of saying all the right things in theworld if nobody is going to read them? And believe me, nobody is going to read them if
they are not saidwith freshness, originality and imagination…if they are not…different.”“People don’t necessarily like
advertisements and avoid them if possible. Therefore to do a goodadvertisement, you are obligated, really, to reward the reader
for his time and patience in allowing youto interrupt the editorial content, which is what he bought the magazine for in the first
place. Soentertainment is sort of repayment.” This just about sums up the copywriting techniques advertising agencies use.
The creative execution hasto be interesting, informative, entertaining and above all, trigger self interest in the target
group.Some campaigns have become advertising legends by their sheer brilliance and brevity. Most commonlyrecognized are
the car Volkswagen’s ‘Lemon’ because the car defied all conventional Americanexpectations such as speed, size, looks,
prestige, etc. and therefore a lemon of a car. Except on onecount – Volkswagen is air cooled and does not freeze in extremely
cold weather. And it was inexpensive. Just one word, ‘Lemon’. And the car became the darling of young folks for several
generations. The other campaign is about Hertz and Avis, the two rent-a-car giants in the USA. The Avis campaignsaid, “We
are Number 2. We try harder.” Very few companies dare to use such self-disparaging conceptsas Volkswagen and Avis did.
And both succeeded for different reasons. The campaign had a tremendousimpact on the Avis staff because they really tried
hard to improve their brand. On the other hand, thisbrilliant headline made readers feel as if there are only two brands of rent-a-car. As a result
National,which was about the size of Avis suffered more than Hertz did simply because people forgot itsexistence. Number three
was not advertising, see? (Batra, Myers and Aaker)However, such brilliant copy execution happens may be just a few times in
a century. It is not just thecopywriter’s skill and brilliance. It is also about how the audience perceives it. Both these campaigns
justcaught the imagination of its targets of the time and became timeless in appeal. Other campaigns of equal brilliance fail to
grab this kind of drama and sink without a trace. Therefore it is difficult to write adoctrine about how to execute the creative
concept. The copywriters and visualisers are trained in thisand are highly disciplined and experienced people. They experiment
constantly to get a handle on whatwill appeal to their target. How to do is difficult to define.
Media execution
How effective a campaign had been, is not easy to measure. Especially in India, where the starkdifferences among the target
populations in terms of cuisine, religion, language, culture, daily habits,social demands, aspirations and purchasing patterns are rather drastic.
Yet, they all need, and indeed,buy and use exactly the same products and services.Although India has made large strides in
documenting the reach, readership and their segmentedpersonalities and circulation of media, the available database is still far
from satisfactory. To besuccessful, an advertiser needs nuanced information on each target segment before an optimum
mediaplan can be executed.Due to remoteness of rural areas, huge illiteracy – neo literates who just learn to sign, or even read
andmake up the bulk of the government literacy figures, do not necessarily read anything ever and thus outof reach for print
media – and lack of access to television, media access in India is limited. Consumer andtrade promotion at the grassroots level
is still not a regular feature and little data are available.
Finding the target audience
Q3. Explain the persuasion techniques used in advertising.

4. Ans. Persuasive Techniques in Advertising
The persuasive strategies used by advertisers who want you to buy their product can be divided into three categories: pathos,
logos, and ethos. Pathos: an appeal to emotion. An advertisement using pathos will attempt to evoke an emotional response in
the consumer. Sometimes, it is a positive emotion such as happiness: an image of people enjoying themselves while drinking
Pepsi. Other times,
advertisers will use negative emotions such as pain: a person having back problems after buying the “wrong” mattress. Pathos
can also include emotions such as fear and guilt: images of a starving child persuade you to send money.
Logos: an appeal to logic or reason.
An advertisement using logos will give you the evidence and statistics you need to fully understand what the product does. The
logos of an advertisement will be the "straight facts" about the product: One glass of Florida orange juice contains 75% of your
daily Vitamin C needs.
Ethos: an appeal to credibility or character. An advertisement using ethos will try to convince you that the company is more
reliable, honest, and credible; therefore, you should buy its product.
Ethos often involves statistics from reliable experts, such as nine out of ten dentists agree that Crest is the better than any other
brand or Americas dieters choose Lean Cuisine. Often, a celebrity endorses a product to lend it more credibility: Catherine
Zeta-Jones makes us want to switch to T-Mobile.
Practice labeling pathos, logos, and ethos by placing a P, L, or E in the blank:
A child is shown covered in bug bites after using an inferior bug spray.
Tiger Woods endorses Nike.
Sprite Zero is 100% sugar-free.
A 32-oz. bottle of Tide holds enough to wash 32 loa
A 32-oz. bottle of Tide holds enough to wash 32 loads.
A commercial shows an image of a happy couple riding in a Corvette.
Cardiologists recommend Ecotrin more than any other brand of aspirin.
Advil Liqui-Gels provide up to 8 hours of continuous pain relief.
Miley Cyrus appears in Oreo advertisements.
People who need more energy drink Red Bull Energy Drink.
A magazine ad shows people smiling while smoking cigarettes.
The following are some more specific strategies that advertisers use. Often, they overlap with the rhetorical strategies above.
Avante Garde
The suggestion that using this product puts the user ahead of the times. A toy manufacturer encourages kids to be the first on
their block to have a new toy. Weasel Words “Weasel words” are used to suggest a positive meaning without actually really
Making any guarantee. A scientist says that a diet product might help you to lose weight the way it helped him to lose weight. A
dish soap leaves dishes virtually spotless.
Magic Ingredients
The suggestion that some almost miraculous discovery makes the product exceptionally effective. A pharmaceutical
manufacturer describes a special coating that makes their pain reliever less irritating to the stomach than a competitor’s.
Patriotism
The suggestion that purchasing this product shows your love of your country. A company brags about its product being made in
America.
Transfer Positive words, images, and ideas are used to suggest that the product being sold is also positive. A textile
manufacturer wanting people to wear their product to stay cool during the summer shows people wearing fashions made from
their cloth at a sunny seaside setting where there is a cool breeze.
Plain Folks The suggestion that the product is a practical product of good value for ordinary people. A cereal manufacturer
shows an ordinary family sitting down to breakfast and enjoying their product. Snob Appeal
The suggestion that the use of the product makes the customer part of an elite group with a luxurious and glamorous lifestyle. A
coffee manufacturer shows people dressed in formal gowns and tuxedos drinking their brand at an art gallery.
Bribery
Bribery offers you something “extra.” Buy a burger; get free fries.

5. Bandwagon The suggestion that you should join the crowd or be on the winning side by using a product—you don’t want to be
the only person without it!
Q 4. Describe the tools and techniques of Sales promotion in brief
Ans : Sales promotion is one of the seven aspects of the promotional mix. (The other six parts of the promotional mix
are advertising, personal selling, direct marketing, publicity/public relations, corporate image and exhibitions.) Media and nonmedia marketing communication are employed for a pre-determined, limited time to increase consumer demand, stimulate
market demand or improve product availability. Examples include contests, coupons,freebies, loss leaders, point of
purchase displays, premiums, prizes, product samples, andrebates
Sales promotions can be directed at either the customer, sales staff, or distribution channel members (such as retailers). Sales
promotions targeted at the consumer are calledconsumer sales promotions. Sales promotions targeted at retailers
and wholesale are called trade sales promotions. Some sale promotions, particularly ones with unusual methods, are
considered gimmicks by many.
Sales promotion includes several communications activities that attempt to provide added value or incentives to consumers,
wholesalers, retailers, or other organizational customers to stimulate immediate sales. These efforts can attempt to stimulate
product interest, trial, or purchase. Examples of devices used in sales promotion include coupons, samples, premiums, pointof-purchase (POP) displays, contests, rebates, and sweepstakes.
sales promotion techniques
Price deal: A temporary reduction in the price, such as 50% off.
Loyal Reward Program: Consumers collect points, miles, or credits for purchases and redeem them for rewards.
Cents-off deal: Offers a brand at a lower price. Price reduction may be a percentage marked on the package.
Price-pack deal: The packaging offers a consumer a certain percentage more of the product for the same price (for
example, 25 percent extra).
Coupons: coupons have become a standard mechanism for sales promotions.
Loss leader: the price of a popular product is temporarily reduced in order to stimulate other profitable sales
Free-standing insert (FSI): A coupon booklet is inserted into the local newspaper for delivery.
On-shelf couponing: Coupons are present at the shelf where the product is available.
Checkout dispensers: On checkout the customer is given a coupon based on products purchased.
On-line couponing: Coupons are available online. Consumers print them out and take them to the store.
Mobile couponing: Coupons are available on a mobile phone. Consumers show the offer on a mobile phone to a
salesperson for redemption.
Online interactive promotion game: Consumers play an interactive game associated with the promoted product.
Rebates: Consumers are offered money back if the receipt and barcode are mailed to the producer.
Contests/sweepstakes/games: The consumer is automatically entered into the event by purchasing the product.
Point-of-sale displays:Aisle interrupter: A sign that juts into the aisle from the shelf.
Dangler: A sign that sways when a consumer walks by it.
Dump bin: A bin full of products dumped inside.
Glorifier: A small stage that elevates a product above other products.
Wobbler: A sign that jiggles.
Lipstick Board: A board on which messages are written in crayon.

6. Necker: A coupon placed on the 'neck' of a bottle.
YES unit: "your extra salesperson" is a pull-out fact sheet.
Electroluminescent: Solar-powered, animated light in motion.[1]
Kids eat free specials: Offers a discount on the total dining bill by offering 1 free kids meal with each regular meal
purchased.
Sampling: Consumers get one sample for free, after their trial and then could decide whether to buy or not.
Trade sales promotion techniques
Trade allowances: short term incentive offered to induce a retailer to stock up on a product.
Dealer loader: An incentive given to induce a retailer to purchase and display a product.
Trade contest: A contest to reward retailers that sell the most product.
Point-of-purchase displays: Used to create the urge of "impulse" buying and selling your product on the spot.
Training programs: dealer employees are trained in selling the product.
Push money: also known as "spiffs". An extra commission paid to retail employees to push products.
Trade discounts (also called functional discounts): These are payments to distribution channel members for performing some
function .
Q5. What is full Service agency ? What are specialist agencies? Why are they needed .?
Ans : An agency that handles all aspects of the advertising process, including planning, design, production, and placement.
Today, full-service generally suggests that the agency also handles other aspects of marketing communication, such as public
relations, sales promotion, Internet and direct marketing.
Advertising agency that is equipped to serve its clients in all aspects of communication and promotion, so that there is no
reason for the client to use any other outside service agency. The full-service agency offers total service in both advertising and
non-advertising areas. The advertising services concern preparation and placement of advertising and include the creating,
planning, and production of advertisements and commercials as well as research services and media selection and purchase.
The non-advertising services are in the area of production and include sales promotion materials, publicity pieces, annual
reports, trade show exhibits, and sales training materials.
Although a full-service agency can offer this wide range of services, all full-service agencies are not alike. They vary greatly in
size, focus, and areas of specialization. Therefore, they also vary in the type of client they serve. When choosing a full-service
advertising agency, it is important to the advertiser to be aware of the agency's expertise in the area that best serves the
advertiser's product or service.
Specialized agencies
These agencies specialized in a particular activity of the whole communication process. They may specialize in certain
functions (copy, art, media), audiences (minority youth)or industries (health, computers) or in a marketing communication area
(direct marketing, sales promotion, public relation). These type of agencies may serve one client only.
A specialised agency is an autonomous intergovernmental organisation that has been created through its own independent
legal instrument and is normally mandated to address a specific issue, need or function. Specialised agencies are linked to the
United Nations through the UN Charter whereby member-states have pledged themselves to “joint and separate cooperation”
on social and economic issues including those related to standards of living, economic and social progress, health, human
rights, culture and education.1 The specialised agency provisions of the UN Charter
essentially addressed two concerns at the time the charter was adopted. First, that the UN itself could not fully address all
international issues without some degree of specialization that delved more deeply into the unique needs that these issues

7. required. Second, that in 1945 at the time the UN Charter was adopted there existed some international organisations that were
already working on specific issues for some time. Organisations such as the International Labour Organisation
(ILO), the Health Organisation, the predecessor of the World Health Organisation (WHO), and various committees and
commissions had already existed under the League of Nations and these organisations needed to be incorporated under the
new UN system. Article 55 of the Charter made such incorporation possible and it also left the door open for future independent
specialised agencies to be created while still remaining linked to the UN system.
Q6. Discuss the following theories of Advertising :
• The Cognitive-Response Theory
Ans : The cognitive response model of persuasion locates the most direct cause of persuasion in the self-talk of the persuasion
target, rather than the content of the message.
Anthony Greenwald first proposed the theory in 1968
Research supporting the model shows that persuasion is powerfully affected by the amount of self-talk that occurs in response
to a message.[2] The degree to which the self-talk supports the message and the confidence that recipients express in the
validity of that self-talk further support the cognitive response model.
The cognitive response model suggests that effective messages should take into account factors that are likely to enhance
positive cognitive responses to the receivers.
Counterarguments, in contrast, are negative cognitive responses that prohibit persuasion. Factors that reduce
counterarguments include communicator expertise and insufficient time and ability to formulate counterarguments. Such tactics
are often used ininterrogations.
• The Stimulus-Response Theory
Ans :The stimulus-response theory is principled in two forms, classical conditioning and perant conditioning. Classical
conditioning gives focus to how the stimulus affects a change in learner behavior res. This type of learning is effective when
the goal is for the subject to have aninstilled response to a stimulus. Operant conditioning, which is often used in education, is
basedon the consequence of responses, either positive or negative (Davidson- Shivers & Rasmussen, p.41; Smith & Ragan,
2005, p. 25).
“Most studies of behavior from the S-R tradition focusedon temporal variables and those that related to motivation, such as
reward magnitude anddeprivation state” (Holland, 2008, p.228). Subscribers to the S-R theory are more interestedvariables that
can create individualized/collective responses than motivations of the learner.
• The Dual-process Theory
A dual process theory provides an account of how a phenomenon can occur in two different ways, or as a result of two different
processes. Often, the two processes consist of an implicit (automatic), unconscious process and an explicit
(controlled),conscious process. Verbalized explicit processes or attitudes and actions may change with persuasion or
education; though implicit process or attitudes usually take a long amount of time to change with the forming of new habits.
Dual process theories can be found in social, personality, cognitive, and clinical psychology.
Dual process models are very common in the study of social psychological variables, such as attitude change. Examples
include Petty and Cacioppo's Elaboration Likelihood Model and Chaiken's Heuristic Systematic Model. According to these
models, persuasion may occur after either intense scrutiny or extremely superficial thinking. In cognitive psychology, attention
and working memory have also been conceptualized as relying on two distinct processes
• The Resource Matching Theory
The subject of human resource matching shows the characteristic of diversification, independent and personalized. The human
resource matching and optimization should overcome such poor practice as subjectivity, unidirectional, blindness and empirical
and should realize bidirectional, dynamic, and matching in human resources allocation. Bidirectional is to realize the common

8. development of the staff and organization through the rational allocation of human resources while dynamic means that human
resources allocation need to consider adapting to the development of both the recruitment and selection, employee
socialization, training and development, performance appraisal, promotions, transfers, demotions, separations, and
compensation management. The human resource value chain can be divided into three parts, e.g. value creation, value
appraisal and value sharing.
The human resource matching theory and models of scholars at home and abroad has been reviewed firstly. And the
advantages and weaknesses of quantitative and qualitative model of human resource model have been analyzed. Then a model
of enterprise human resource matching based on job analysis and personnel quality assessment has been put forward. In this
model both job analysis and personnel quality assessment are thought important and the mechanism of them has been
explained systematically. The human resource matching process has been putting into the larger environment of the whole
organization system. First and foremost, the human resource strategic planning has been formulated under the method and the
other is qualitative description model which often reflected by flow chart.
• Cognitive Dissonance theory:
cognitive dissonance is the discomfort experienced when simultaneously holding two or more conflicting cognitions: ideas,
beliefs, values or emotional reactions. In a state of dissonance, people may sometimes feel "disequilibrium": frustration, hunger,
dread, guilt, anger, embarrassment, anxiety, etc.[1] The phrase was coined by Leon Festinger in his 1956 book When Prophecy
Fails, which chronicled the followers of a UFO cult as reality clashed with their fervent belief in an impending
apocalypse.[2][3] Festinger subsequently (1957) published a book called A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance in which he outlines
the theory. Cognitive dissonance is one of the most influential and extensively studied theories in social psychology.
The theory of cognitive dissonance in social psychology proposes that people have amotivational drive to reduce dissonance
by altering existing cognitions, adding new ones to create a consistent belief system, or alternatively by reducing the
importance of any one of the dissonant elements.[1] Cognitive dissonance is the distressing mental state that people feel when
they "find themselves doing things that don't fit with what they know, or having opinions that do not fit with other opinions they
hold."[4] A key assumption is that people want their expectations to meet reality, creating a sense of equilibrium. [5] Likewise,
another assumption is that a person will avoid situations or information sources that give rise to feelings of uneasiness, or
dissonance.[1]
Cognitive dissonance theory explains human behavior by positing that people have a bias to seek consonance between their
expectations and reality. According to Festinger, people engage in a process he termed "dissonance reduction," which can be
achieved in one of three ways: lowering the importance of one of the discordant factors, adding consonant elements, or
changing one of the dissonant factors.[6] This bias sheds light on otherwise puzzling, irrational, and even destructive behaviour.