Respond to all 3 with a minimum 250 each. Must list references used. Response 1 (Kenneth): Being active duty (20 years and counting), understanding Pat and his mindset is problematic me.  However, I will give it a shot, as I have had several friends over the years that share the same beliefs as Pat.  I assume that if I were Pat, I would be scared about the possibility of deploying to fight in any form of armed conflict.  I would no doubt make the argument that I did not join the Army to fight a war; I joined to learn a skillset and for the college money.  Having witnessed this first hand, I would assume I (Pat) would go out of my way to ensure I did not have to run off and fight someone else’s war.  I do not have a problem with the people that have been labeled the “enemy.”  I did not sign up for this, even though when I enlisted, I took an oath to, “support and defend the constitution of the United States of America, against all enemies, foreign and domestic (10 U.S. Code § 502 - Enlistment oath, 2018).” Looking at the statement of “I support our troops, but I do not support the war,” I can tell you it has always confused me.  While I understand the message, people are trying to convey, it just never made sense to me.  Troops are meant to go to war, that is their job, regardless of what additional skillset they are trained in.  This same cognitive dissonance (Aronson, 2012) can be applied to the saying, “I support my accountant, but I do not support taxes.”  Without taxes, your account has no job.  A Soldiers job is war, simple as that.  Every Soldier I know will tell you that they wish they did not have to go to war, as warriors know the cost of war, and would prefer to avoid it.  That being said, warriors are proud to go to war, to defend their homeland, their fellow citizens, and their way of life.  As long as there are sheep, there will be wolves who want to harm them.  This is where the sheepdog comes in, to protect the sheep.  Pat needs to ask himself if he is the sheepdog or the sheep.  He cannot be both.  People who use the previously mentioned phase, need to realize this simple fact as well.   For this, I have picked a personal cognitive dissonance that I have.  I am not a supporter of abortion in any way.  I am pro-life and believe that regardless of the circumstances, many other options should be looked at and entertained before settling on abortion as the only option on the table.  However, I also realize that this is only my opinion.  I cannot look at each situation and say that abortion is the first option, not the last option.  An example there would be the sexual assault of a mentally disabled girl or woman.  Should she become pregnant, and her handicap is such that she cannot make an informed decision, or perhaps cannot even communicate her desire, as to what she would want to do for the baby, then perhaps abortion becomes a necessary evil.  Again, not something I would advocate for, but would certainly understand the ...

1. Respond to all 3 with a minimum 250 each.
Must list references used.
Response 1 (Kenneth):
Being active duty (20 years and counting), understanding Pat
and his mindset is problematic me. However, I will give it a
shot, as I have had several friends over the years that share the
same beliefs as Pat. I assume that if I were Pat, I would be
scared about the possibility of deploying to fight in any form of
armed conflict. I would no doubt make the argument that I did
not join the Army to fight a war; I joined to learn a skillset and
for the college money. Having witnessed this first hand, I
would assume I (Pat) would go out of my way to ensure I did
not have to run off and fight someone else’s war. I do not have
a problem with the people that have been labeled the “enemy.”
I did not sign up for this, even though when I enlisted, I took
an oath to, “support and defend the constitution of the United
States of America, against all enemies, foreign and domestic (10
U.S. Code § 502 - Enlistment oath, 2018).”
Looking at the statement of “I support our troops, but I do not
support the war,” I can tell you it has always confused me.
While I understand the message, people are trying to convey, it
just never made sense to me. Troops are meant to go to war,
that is their job, regardless of what additional skillset they are
trained in. This same cognitive dissonance (Aronson, 2012) can
be applied to the saying, “I support my accountant, but I do not
support taxes.” Without taxes, your account has no job. A
Soldiers job is war, simple as that. Every Soldier I know will
tell you that they wish they did not have to go to war, as
warriors know the cost of war, and would prefer to avoid it.
That being said, warriors are proud to go to war, to defend their
homeland, their fellow citizens, and their way of life. As long

2. as there are sheep, there will be wolves who want to harm them.
This is where the sheepdog comes in, to protect the sheep. Pat
needs to ask himself if he is the sheepdog or the sheep. He
cannot be both. People who use the previously mentioned
phase, need to realize this simple fact as well.
For this, I have picked a personal cognitive dissonance that I
have. I am not a supporter of abortion in any way. I am pro-
life and believe that regardless of the circumstances, many other
options should be looked at and entertained before settling on
abortion as the only option on the table. However, I also realize
that this is only my opinion. I cannot look at each situation and
say that abortion is the first option, not the last option. An
example there would be the sexual assault of a mentally
disabled girl or woman. Should she become pregnant, and her
handicap is such that she cannot make an informed decision, or
perhaps cannot even communicate her desire, as to what she
would want to do for the baby, then perhaps abortion becomes a
necessary evil. Again, not something I would advocate for, but
would certainly understand the choice. I know that this topic is
a sensitive one, but its one that I am not afraid to discuss. I
have had Soldiers under my charge that have made this choice
when faced with an unwanted pregnancy. In those situations, I
did my best to lay out ALL options and then supported them in
whatever choice they made.
References
10 U.S. Code § 502 - Enlistment oath. (2018, Nov 26).
Retrieved from Cornell Law School:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/502
Aronson, E. (2012). The Social Animal. New York: Worth
Publishers.

3. Response 2 (Ashley):
1) According to Wade and Tavris (2012), cognitive dissonance
is more likely to occur under three distinct conditions: when
people need to justify an action or choice that was freely made,
when people need to justify behavior that conflicts with their
view of themselves, and when people need to justify the effort
used in making a decision or choice.
When we make our cognitions more compatible or consonant
that assist our original cognitions. (Aronson, 2015) If I were
Pat, I feel that it would be hard for me to be in a war that I
don’t believe in, I would have to come up with many
justifications to be sure that I felt better about having to fight in
a war that I don’t agree with. I feel like Pat supports the troops
but opposes the war, however now that he is in the military and
fighting in the war, he may have a different viewpoint. The war
may make him have excuses or justify his actions to where he
believes that the war isn’t so bad. Pat may feel like he is doing
good for his country by fighting in the war or he may love his
job, so he agrees now that the war isn’t so bad. When people
say that they support the troops but not the war because that is
cognitive dissonance. Pat needs to justify his behavior because
he must fight in the war, but he has to justify that because his
family nor himself believe in it. The reason that people feel like
they support the troops but not the war is because they feel bad
because the troops are fighting for their freedoms, so they don’t
have to worry about fighting for them, however they don’t agree
with the war that the troops are fighting in. This helps those
people feel less bad about their beliefs because they support the
troops but not the war.
2) A major situation that I witness is people that are trying to
lose weight, but they have unhealthy food choices during every
lunch. This situation is described as cognitive dissonance
because they truly want to lose weight and they justify their
actions for making unhealthy food choices. Some of the

4. examples are I will work it off in the gym, I only eat lunch, or I
had a hard day today I deserve to eat this. This lets them justify
their action, so they don’t feel as bad about making unhealthy
choices.
Reference
Aronson, Elliot.
The Social Animal, 11th Edition
. Worth Publishers, 2015. [VitalSource].
Wade, C., & Tavris, C. (2012).
Invitation to Psychology
(5th Edition).
Boston: Prentice Hall.
Response 3 (Xavier):
We all know that a military individual's first job is to protect
the United States and United States territories on foreign soil
against all enemies. Cognitive dissonance is feelings of
discomfort that result when your beliefs run counter to your
behaviors and/or new information that is presented to you. Pat
knew exactly what he was signing up for and knew that there
was a possibility that he could be called to go to war. Pat is
struggling facing the "now" factor that he has been called to go
to war being that he went through his whole enlistment without
a war breaking out. The influence of his family and other that
were influential to him is what caused this cognitive
dissonance, not his own belief against war. One cannot simply
support the troops and not support the war being that the troops
responsibility may come to going to war. Pats' cognitive
dissonance derived from the beliefs of his family. If I were pat I
would learn to understand that my reasons for joining are fine
but that I still had a job to do. If it meant being called into

5. action then so be it. The fact that Pat mentally blocked out the
possibility that he may go to work only makes me perceive as if
he had hope not to go to work but not that he didn't believe in
it. Pat is a young man whom knew what he was getting into and
just hope he would come out of his enlistment without going to
work. The individuals whom say "I support the troops but I
oppose the war", are the ones whom are against violence in
general. Protection comes at a cost always and sometimes that
cost is the lives of the troops. But those individuals aren't
looking at the big picture. Whom, if not the military is suppose
to protect America and its territories against individuals
plotting to destroy our nation? Or what we stand for? War is
apart of our world because not all of the countries in the world
have found a way to get along with everyone. In terms of war,
one cannot possibly have a belief system for supporting the
troops but not war being that they go hand in hand and the
troops priority above all else is protecting the American when
told to do so. Those individuals that fought in those wars back
then were forced to join. The United States had drafts and even
some volunteered. Nowadays, you volunteer only if you want to
join the military and serve. The only way we would go back to
drafting is if our military forces dwindled in force which isn't
going to happen. A situation that I observed, more so on a daily
basis is individuals whom smoke. The people that smoke know
that it is harmful, but they still like to smoke.
Cherry, K. (2018). What is Cognitive Dissonance. VeryWell
Mind.