Cognitive Dissonance and the Experienced Audiophile

Psychology 020

As I embarked on my much longer than anticipated path in post-secondary education (I recently obtained my 6th and likely final degree in what can be described as a bizarre academic journey), I decided that my undergraduate major would be in psychology. Naturally, in the absence of any declared aspirations to become a licensed clinical psychologist or neuropsychologist, my parents were skeptical if a degree in psychology would lead to a desired career progression (they were correct). However, I found psychology course readings to be interesting and decided that this would be the best route to maintain some level of academic discipline at a time when I was self-aware of my limitations on that front.

What is Cognitive Dissonance?

One of the many interesting concepts imparted to me in social psychology was cognitive dissonance.  This phenomenon occurs throughout the course of our day much more often than we would expect.  Stated very simply, cognitive dissonance occurs when there is a discrepancy between our own thoughts.  This results in a feeling of psychological discomfort or stress.  As humans, we are highly motivated to eliminate these unpleasant feelings.  This is accomplished by resolving the cognitive dissonance.  This can occur through a number of adaptive mechanisms such as rationalization or what is known as selective perception (a science-y way to describe ignorance).

Let’s elaborate with a story

At this point, I believe it is probably the right time (maybe even too late) to articulate this concept through an example.  I will share a story from my professor in 2nd year university as it was evidently a strong example provided that I can still remember it decades later.

It is universally agreed that stretching can reduce the chances of injury before exercising.  A research study was released that conclusively stated that stretching will increase your chance of injury prior to exercise (the point of this article is not to debate the physiological merits of stretching – I am merely retelling a story).  For those that engage in a regular and extensive pre-exercise stretching routine, this information would likely be a source of psychological stress.  The unlikely response to alleviate the cognitive dissonance would be to put full belief into this new information and abandon our long-held stretching routine.  A likelier response would be to rationalize our behaviour (for example ‘I’ve been stretching for years and have not encountered an injury’) or selective perception (‘I’m sure that there is research to support stretching and this was probably a flawed study design funded by companies with ulterior motives who profit from musculoskeletal injuries’).

And how is this relevant for the Audiophile?

Now, this is a blog intended for the high-end audio community and we have read close to 450 words with no mention of audio?  How is this relevant?  It has been argued that audiophiles ‘convince’ themselves of phantom or imagined sonic benefits with a component upgrade. Why?  If there was no discernable improvement to the sound of the system (or if the sound actually got worse), this would create psychological stress based on the time and money that was contributed to the upgrade.  To resolve this, we would therefore ‘hear’ an improvement in sound to reduce the cognitive dissonance. As we often have no means of measuring or objectively demonstrating the improvement we are hearing, the true skeptics of high-end audio will describe that this phenomenon is largely responsible for our perceptions of sonic enhancement.

An Anecdote to Challenge this Notion

My counter is a detailed account of one of my most memorable and significant audio purchases.  When I graduated from professional school in 2007, I was going to gift myself with a new power amplifier.  After hours of online research and several forum inquiries, I landed on two choices.  My first choice was well-regarded in the audio press, was described as being musically engaging, and had an extremely appealing visual design (this remains an important part of my audio-related purchases).  I proceeded to a local retailer to audition said amplifier in my system.  I pre-authorized my credit card for the full value of the amp (equivalent to my savings at that time) and transported the 100-pound amplifier to my home.  I will add that this was during a lag period in my employment where I completed my education but was still waiting to obtain my license.  I therefore had an abundance of availability. 

During the waking hours of the proceeding 72 hours, I listened to hundreds of tracks with this amplifier driving my speakers. Regardless of the type of music or volume, I could not musically connect with this amplifier.  How does this contravene the concept of cognitive dissonance for us audiophiles?  Well, I wanted nothing more at the time than to LOVE this amplifier.  On paper, it had everything I desired in a stereo amp.  Additionally, from a practical perspective, I did not want to endure the considerable chore of packing it up and returning it to the store. I was highly motivated for this to be my amplifier for the next 10 years.  No matter how hard I tried (and tried and tried), my brain could not resolve the cognitive dissonance with any of the tactics described earlier.        

The Role of System Familiarity

Does this example entirely refute the skeptics who believe that audiophiles are merely convincing themselves of better sound? Absolutely not.  However, what some cynics fail to consider is our familiarity with our systems.  Given our level of exposure, we can detect slight changes to the sounds of familiar recordings.  I had low expectations that an audiophile network switch would result in better sound.  I was quite frankly blown away by what I’ve heard.  Some audiophiles have even experienced changes in sound in the absence of component upgrades.  For example, it has been described that superior sound can emerge during late-night listening sessions when consumption is low on the power grid versus mid-day listening during a hot summer day during peak consumption hours.  Stated differently, we are hearing changes in our system that are not aligned with expectations or a function of reducing our cognitive dissonance.   

Our audio journeys are often characterized by a series of experiments to bring us closer to the recordings. We are constantly testing hypotheses with focused listening sessions.  Sometimes the changes are apparent immediately, other changes become noticeable over time.  While we can’t always express our evolution in superior sound with numbers or words, we can always feel it in our hearts and minds, even when those changes are unanticipated.