General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Akin: We've Got A Commie President [View all]patrice
(47,992 posts)critical mass and that point doesn't even necessarily HAVE TO be anything even near 50:50; it can be MUCH less than that, depending upon what is included in the individual's constellation of self-reinforcing contextual factors.
The point being that after an individual's cognitive dissonance achieves his/her own critical mass, it becomes self-reinforcing/self-rewarding (biologically), so it maintains itself not just despite all else, but, in fact, BECAUSE of all else.
"Me/us against the world" is taken as PROOF of validity and maintained, until "external" systemic dysonance:consonance achieves its own critical mass and change results, thus triggering individual adaptation or maladaptation.
For some people, cognitive dissonance is a stimulus to adapt, for others cognitive dissonance is a stimulus to maladapt, so the questions are about how big whichever cohort is at a given moment in which of the most relevant processes.