First of all, “Playing Mental Defense” (March 2010) was an excellent article. I would like to offer clarification on a key technical point, however. Mr. Pestal correctly identifies “cognitive dissonance” as the condition of psychological discomfort experienced when competing cognitions occur. He also correctly described the human tendency to attempt to 288
Faulty Dissonance
First of all, "Playing Mental Defense" (March 2010) was an excellent article. I would like to offer clarification on a key technical point, however. Mr. Pestal correctly identifies "cognitive dissonance" as the condition of psychological discomfort experienced when competing cognitions occur. He also correctly described the human tendency to attempt to resolve the cognitive dissonance by utilizing denial, rationalization and other unproductive defense mechanisms as we seek to return to a state of psychological comfort. We in psychology refer to this process as "dissonance reduction" or "dissonance resolution."
Key Takeaways:
- Cognitive dissonance should be recognized by pilots as a useful warning signal indicating vulnerability to poor decisions, prompting a conscious choice for safe resolution over unproductive defense mechanisms.
- The article clarifies specific aviation concepts, correcting the definition of a skid in a turn coordinator (too much yaw for bank) and detailing precise wake turbulence separation rules.
- Pilots are cautioned about the limitations of airborne weather radar, noting that severe turbulence can exist in light radar returns and emphasizing the danger of flying into radar shadows.
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