Imagine a person who is passionate about animals and an activist, but also owns and wears a real fur jacket. These two beliefs and actions are incompatible and cause a distressing contradiction known as cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is a distressing mental state caused by an inconsistency between a person's two beliefs or between a belief and an action (Griffin 2006). People have an instinctive desire to keep their actions and beliefs in harmony and when they encounter inconsistencies, they deal with them by trying to reduce them. Cognitive dissonance theory has been around since the late 1950s, when it was published by Leon Festinger, and has had a great impact on the educational community. This theory has been extensively researched over the past 50 years and many important and interesting research findings have been produced. This is an important theory that is very relevant and can be useful in the practice of persuasion and can also help explain people's behaviors. Since the theory's publication, cognitive dissonance has had a significant impact on how people perceive attitudes and behaviors. To fully understand cognitive dissonance theory, it is important to understand the term cognition. A cognition is the knowledge that a person has about something. They can relate to emotions, thoughts, facts or values ​​(Barker, 2003). People hold a large amount of knowledge within them and much of it does not conflict with each other. But when cognitions conflict or contradict each other, dissonance occurs and leaves the individual in an uncomfortable state of distress. It is obvious that people do not like to be in a state of dissonance, but researchers even posit the desire to have...... middle of article ......per, J. (2007 ). Cognitive dissonance: at first. Cognitive dissonance fifty years of a classic theory (pp. 1-10). Los Angeles: SAGE. Gawronski, B. (2012). Back to the future of dissonance theory: cognitive coherence as the main motive. Social Cognition, 30(6), 652-668. Glatz, T., Stattin, H. and Kerr, M. (2012). A test of cognitive dissonance theory to explain parental reactions to youth alcohol poisoning. Family Relations, 61(4), 629-641. Griffin, E. A. (2006). Cognitive dissonance theory. A first look at communication theory (6th ed., pp. 215-228). Boston: McGraw-Hill. Kim, Y. (2011). Application of cognitive dissonance theory to the service sector. Services Marketing Quarterly, 32(2), 96-112. McLeod, S. (2008). Cognitive dissonance. Simply psychology. Accessed April 15, 2014 from http://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive-dissonance.html