Scientific American: How to Convince Someone When Facts Fail

“This power of belief over evidence is the result of two factors: cognitive dissonance and the backfire effect.”

What I find interesting is the definition of cognitive dissonance as being the ‘uncomfortable tension that comes from holding two conflicting thoughts simultaneously.’

So what do you call a rather comfortable, even invigorating, tension that comes from holding two conflicting thoughts simultaneously? That’s pretty much where I live...