University Assignment: Cognitive Dissonance and the Film Mean Girls

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of cognitive dissonance as depicted in the movie "Mean Girls." It explores how characters, particularly Cady Heron, experience mental discomfort when their actions contradict their values and beliefs. The essay delves into the application of cognitive dissonance theory, examining how Cady's assimilation into a new social environment, the pressures of peer influence, and the desire to fit in lead to internal conflicts and behavioral changes. It also analyzes the experiences of other characters, such as Regina George and Gretchen Wieners, highlighting their struggles with conflicting cognitions and the resulting psychological effects. The essay references various studies and theories, including the principle of consistency, and discusses the role of conformity and social influence in shaping the characters' actions. The conclusion emphasizes the themes of identity, social pressure, and the psychological impact of navigating conflicting social norms. The essay also discusses the role of fake friendships and the importance of assimilation in the film. The essay concludes by highlighting the importance of conformity and social influence in the movie "Mean Girls."

Running head: COGNITIVE DISSONANCE IN MEAN GIRLS
Cognitive Dissonance in Mean Girls
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author note

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Definition of Cognitive Dissonance Theory (CDT)
Cognitive Dissonance refers to the mental discomfort that is experienced by a person
when he has to perform an action that contradicts the values and personal beliefs of a person.
(Ciao et al., 2015). According to the principle of consistency theory, new stimuli are assimilated
with that of the old encountered stimuli. If the new stimulus is found to be inconsistent, then
acute discomfort is experienced by the person. Human beings crave for consistency and
psychological inconsistency gives rise to dissonance. Dissonance triggers effort that helps in
achieving consonance. The cognitions that are contradictory and are of less importance give rise
to less amount of dissonance. The relevant cognitions being consistent and outnumbering the
dissonant one, will produce less amount of dissonance. Attitudes and thoughts that are
inconsistent give rise to feelings of dissonance that provides a feeling of unpleasant arousal. The
dissonant beliefs should be reduced and adding to the consonant beliefs can serve as useful
techniques in dealing with the dissonance.
Application of Cognitive Dissonance Theory in “Mean Girls”
Cady Heron who was born in Africa was a victim of culture shock when she joined the
American High School and wanted to become a part of the “girl world”. Friendships are fake in
that world and tensions are rampant as she is forced to assimilate in the “Plastics” that is a
popular group. It brings to the fore a strong woman who has a fixed perspective on everything.
(Oliver, 2013). The movie highlights the brutality that exists in the heart of the high school
students.

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Cady’s life in high school is full of such situations that compel her to reject values related
to her previous life. She is forced to assimilate in the new culture that gives rise to cognitive
dissonance. Her external appearance along with her internal self undergoes a drastic
transformation. Regina the Queen Bea, has assimilated herself in the life of high school and she
is also a result of the factor of dissonance. Her friend wants to sabotage her life, blackmail her
and spread wrong information regarding her. Cady soon becomes like the Plastics when she
wants to cut off the resources of Regina and want to separate her from Aaron and destroys her
beauty. She manages to turn Gretchen Wieners along with that of Karen Smith against that of
Regina. Cady pretends to be weak at math so that she can get the attention of Aaron and arranges
the break-up between that of Aaron and Regina. She confesses regarding the infidelity of Regina
with that of another boy. Cady does this because she cannot ingratiate herself in the new culture
and she wants to break the bonds and friendships of her friends at school. It is her insecurity that
led her to do this (Walsh, Sekarasih & Scharrer, 2014).
Cady was facing difficulty because she cannot easily integrate herself in the new culture
and took the evil way out. Cady forces Regina to have the high calorie nutrition bars by saying
that it would help her to lose weight. Gretchen who is the Dumb Girl also suffers from cognitive
dissonance but cognitive dissonance is felt less by her as compared to that of Cady. When
Regina starts favouring Cady instead of Gretchen, then Gretcen feels insulted and her world is
shattered. Gretchen then loses her sense of morality and begins spreading gossip and wrong
information regarding Regina (Cvencek, Meltzoff & Kapur, 2014). The character of Karen faces
the least case of cognitive dissonance and she is the least vitriolic of all the characters. Her
character serves like a basic moral compass. Karen recognizes the mean and abject behavior of
the girls. Gretchen’s burst of dissonance comes to light when she over shares secrets regarding

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Regina to Caddy. Her feelings can be easily understood with the use of expression: “I’ve never
told anyone this before” (Oppliger, 2013).
In order to get revenge on the character of Regina, Cady undergoes a lot of transformation and
moulds herself in the image of Regina without realizing that the qualities of Regina does not
deserve not be imitated. Social influence along with peer pressure compelled Cady to change
herself and changes in circumstance and situation led to drastic changes in the behavior of Cady.
(Brock et al., 2014). Cady was put into a place which maintained a great degree of social
influence. She went on to give more importance to the meanest girls at school which cost her
greatly. Cady was so overcome by the need to fit in that she forgot about all the moral principles
that she was taught.
Regina kissed the guy on whom Cady had a crush thus infuriating Cady, Janice along
with Damian. They fed her Kalteen bars which made her grow fatter and gave her foot-cream to
apply on her face. Regina is soon kicked out of the Plastics which makes the room for a new
Queen Bae. When Cady becomes a Plastic then Regina gets revenge on her by writing about her
in “Burn Book”. They then undergo a “trust workshop” where Jenice tells Regina that Cady
becoming a member of Plastic was only a matter of joke. Cady Heron undergoes de-
individuation in the movie and she has to lose her sense of self-awareness (Rohde et al., 2016).
In the Spring Fling Dance, Cady got elected as the Queen and in her famous acceptance
speech she declared that her victory does not hold any meaning and she recognizes that everyone
has their own wonderful abilities. The victory in a sense belongs to everyone. Cady breaking her
tiara and distributing it to her other class mate’s stands as a gesture that is symbolic. Cady
understand that quarrelling is futile and ingratiates herself with that of Janis, Damien and Aaron.

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She reaches truce with that of The Plastics (Antoniou, Doukas & Subrahmanyam, 2013). By the
start of the next year, The Plastics disbanded. Regina joins the team of lacrosse, Karen got
acknowledged as the school weather girl and Gretchen joined the gang of “Cool Asians”.
Conformity plays a great role in changing the actions of the characters in the movie
“Mean Girls”. People follow the behavior of other people so that they can go along with the
accepted social norms and they seek approval of their individuality. Cady has two perspectives in
relation to the popular group- The Plastics. On one hand, she views The Plastic as evil and on the
other hand she starts craving for the attention and liking of the group. These are the two
cognitive dissonances that compel Cady to face the issue of cognitive dissonance (Bae, 2016).
There is a part of her that is ideal which does not go along with that of the moral policy of The
Plastics and she goes around with them in order to pull the characters down. On the other hand,
is her real self that is hanging out with The Plastics so that she can be liked by the group. The
character of Regina George who is considered to be very popular in school also undergoes a lot
of conflict in their mind. Her ideal and her real self cannot easily match up. Her ideal self wants
to become more popular but her real self is extremely self-conscious Moore, P. A. (2016). She
just tries to make the pretence of being confident and assumes a kind of stance that is unflawed.
She was concerned regarding her weight and did not want her school mates to think that she was
fat.
Conclusion and Implication
In the course of the movie, Cady becomes like the Plastics and she becomes judgemental
and she tries to fit in the wrong place. She loses her identity by conforming to the behavior of
Plastics. The movie “Mean Girls” thus shows Cady trying to assimilate into a foreign culture and

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the mental turmoil that she had to endure in order to fit in the new life. Cady undergoes
Cognitive Dissonance in her new social milieu as the culture perpetrated on her was drastically
different from that of her life in Africa (Trekels & Eggermont, 2017). Fake Friendships are
exhibited in the movie “Mean Girls” and Cady has to endure a lot of tensions since she is forced
to assimilate in the popular group “Plastics”. Karen has to go through the least case of cognitive
dissonance and her character serves the role of that of a moral compass. Karen understands the
mean behavior of the girls. Conformity plays a pivotal role that changes the mindset of
characters in the movie “Mean Girls”. People followed and imitated the behavior of other people
irrespective of the fact whether they were right or wrong (Halliwell & Diedrichs, 2014). Getting
recognized and assimilation was more important for them as compared to that of the following
the right moral path. While on the one hand Cady views The Plastic as an evil group on the other
hand she starts still gropes for getting attention from the malicious group craving for the
attention. These two cognitive dissonances force Cady to face cognitive dissonance and she
undergoes a lot of mental turmoil.

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