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.We can best explain why people changed their memories in terms of

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Cognitive dissonance theory explains that when a person's beliefs and actions are not in alignment, they will experience discomfort or dissonance. In the case of the Iraq War, many Americans had strongly supported the idea of going to war based on the belief that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. When it became clear that no such weapons were found, it created dissonance for those individuals. To reduce this dissonance, they may have revised their memories of why they initially supported the war, in order to align their beliefs with their actions.

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