Cognitive dissonance occurs when a person holds two contradictory beliefs simultaneously.  In order to get rid of that dissonance, the person will either change their mind or rationalize.  This is what happens when I go hiking.  If my map says I should cross a road at a certain point and I don't cross that road, I usually try to rationalize by making one of the following statements: 

1. I must've missed it.
2. This map must be wrong.
3. I must be reading the map upside down.
4. I am unable to read maps.

What I don't tend to do is figure out that something is wrong.  Either I'm using the wrong map or walking in the wrong direction or living in a bizarro world where everything is exactly 0.2 miles from where it should be.  Either way, I should stop what I'm doing and make some sort of correction.  But I don't. #nature