You have just purchased an expensive piece of jewelry for your girlfriend without really knowing her specific likes and dislikes. As you head home from the jewelry store, you agonize in your mind about whether your choice of a ruby necklace was right, or whether you should have chosen pearl earrings. This is an example of:

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This scenario describes cognitive dissonance, which is the mental discomfort or unease that arises when a person's beliefs or actions are inconsistent with one another. In this case, the person's belief that they want to make their girlfriend happy by buying her a nice gift is inconsistent with their uncertainty about whether the gift they chose is the right one. This internal conflict can lead to anxiety and the desire to seek out further information or validation to ease the discomfort.

You Have Just Purchased an Expensive Piece of Jewelry for Your