Jeanine has just been admitted to two colleges, College A and College B, both of which she is equally interested in attending. After lots of internal conflict and confusion, she finally decides to attend College A. As soon as she sends in her deposit to College A, Jeanine can't stop thinking about all the negative things about College B and how she knows she made the right decision. Jeanine's original confusion is now resolved, reducing the _____ she experienced.

Cognitive dissonance: The term is proposed by Leon Festinger in 1957. He believed that cognitive dissonance is the aversive or devious state of arousal that arises when a person conflicts among two or more cognitions and these cognitions are inconsistent with each other.

Example: A man smokes continuously instead of knowing that it can lead to cancer.

The term dissonance refers to the process when an individual's behavior conflicts with his or her beliefs. The dissonance can be reduced by adding new beliefs that can reduce conflicting behavior.

In the question above, Jeanine's original confusion is now resolved, reducing the dissonance she experienced.