When no weapons of mass destruction were found following the U.S. invasion of Iraq, some Americans revised their memories of the main rationale for going to war. The text author suggests that we can best explain why people changed their memories in terms of

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Cognitive dissonance theory suggests that when people's beliefs and actions are inconsistent, they experience discomfort or dissonance, which they then try to resolve. In the case of the Iraq War, the belief that going to war was justified because of the presence of weapons of mass destruction was inconsistent with the lack of evidence for such weapons. People's revising of their memories may be a way to alleviate this cognitive dissonance.

When No Weapons of Mass Destruction Were Found Following the U.S