Using the example discussed by the professor, explain what cognitive dissonance is and how people often deal with it.
请用教授所提到的例子，解释什么是认知失调以及人们一般是怎么处理这种情况的。
Read the passage from a Sociology textbook.
请阅读社会学课本上的一篇文章。

You have 50 seconds to read the passage. Begin reading now.
你一共有50秒钟的时间阅读这篇文章。阅读现在开始。
Now listen to part of a lecture about this topic in a Sociology class.
现在请听社会学课上关于这个题目的部分讲课内容。
This is a true story from my own life.
这是发生在我自己身上的一个真实故事。
In my first year in high school, I was addicted to video games.
在我上中学的第一年时，我沉迷于电子游戏。
I played them all the time and I wasn't studying enough.
我整天整夜得玩电子游戏，学习一点也不用心。
I was failing Chemistry that was my hardest class.
化学课对我来说最难了，这门课我挂了。
So this was a conflict for me because I wanted a good job when I grew up and I believed,
所以，这导致我内心有点挣扎。因为我想等自己长大以后，能找到一份好工作。
I knew, that if you want a good career you gotta do well in school.
而且我相信，我认为，如果你想要事业有成的话，那么你在学校的表现一定要好。
But I just couldn't give up video games! I was completely torn.
但是我又无法放弃电子游戏！我感觉整个人都快要被分裂了。
And my solution was to change my perspective.
然后，我的解决方法就是改变自己的看法。
See, the only class I was doing really badly in was Chemistry.
瞧，我就一门化学课表现得很差劲。
In the others, I was OK. So I asked myself if I wanted to be a chemist when I grew up?
其他课程，我的成绩还行。所以我就问我自己，你长大后想当化学家吗？
And the fact is I didn't. I was pretty sure I wanted to be a sociologist.
事实是我不想成为化学家。我很确信自己想当一名社会学家。
So I told myself my chemistry class didn't matter, because sociologist don't need to know chemistry.
所以我对自己说，化学课不重要，因为社会学家不需要懂化学。
In other words, I changed my understanding of what it meant to do well in school.
换句话说，我改变了自己对在学校表现好的定义。
I reinterpreted my situation. I used to think that doing well in school meant doing well in all my classes.
我重新解读了自己的情形。我以前认为在学校表现好就意味着门门功课都要做得好。
But now I decided that succeeding in school meant only doing well in the classes that related directly with my future career.
但是现在我认定，在学校表现优秀意味着只要在和我未来职业直接相关的课程中表现优秀就可以了。
I eliminated the conflict, at least in my mind.
我弱化了自己内心的斗争，至少是在思想上弱化了。