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Abstract
The current study aimed to identify the level of cognitive dissonance among students of Al al-Bayt University in Jordan in terms of gender, academic specialization and level, and to reveal the predictive ability of emotional intelligence for cognitive dissonance. The study sample consisted of235 male and female students from Al alBayt University. The Cognitive Dissonance Scale (Al-Adamat & Atoum, 2022) and the Emotional Intelligence Scale (Al-Alwan, 2011) were used to collect the data. The findings of this study indicated that the level of cognitive dissonance was average. Statistically significant differences were identified in the level of cognitive dissonance in terms of gender, higher scores being reported by males. Also, there were significant differences in terms of academic specialization, in the favor of humanities major, and academic level, in the favor of the second, third and fourth year students. In addition, findings revealed that emotional intelligence explained 9.3% of the cognitive dissonance variance.
Keywords: cognitive dissonance, emotional intelligence, students.
Scientific and technological advancement, as well as the rapid expansion of knowledge, are supposed to have an impact on a student's personality, life, thoughts, and behavior in various situations. In light of these developments, the student aspires to observe his conduct and pursue his thoughts in a new way, so that she/he is in sync with his ideas, attitudes, self, personality, and behavior (Atoum & Al-Momani, 2018). In some cases, a student may find him/herself trapped in a circle of opposing ideas, opinions, beliefs, and behavior. In the case of cognitive dissonance, a student may experience psychological distress and may attempt to control any emotions that may affect the individual's life or close relationships in order to ensure ability to adapt and reach a state of psychological stability.
Cognitive dissonance is an emotional state that occurs when a person's cognitive elements demand one or more of them to be the polar opposite of one another. The inconsistency between these components may motivate them to engage in actions that will help minimize feelings of discomfort, in an attempt to relieve this tension in different ways (Reiger, 2000). This sometimes requires individuals to create knowledge by adding some harmonious knowledge, raising the importance of this harmonious knowledge, and reducing incompatible knowledge and its importance (Al-Lihyani & Al-Otaibi,...