DISSONANCE, COHERENCE, AND IDEOLOGICAL AMBIVALENCE: A PEDAGOGICAL TOOL FOR MULTIDIMENSIONAL POLITICAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

This article presents the validation of a multidimensional web system designed to analyze ideological coherence, ambivalence, and contradictions. Grounded in social psychology, cognitive dissonance theory, the Michigan School tradition, political philosophy, and critical sociology, the software organizes political attitudes into three axes: economic, cultural, and institutional. The study adopted an exploratory and descriptive approach, with voluntary and anonymous data collection between July and December 2025, through online dissemination on social networks and presentation at a science fair. The analysis considered 24 Likert-scale questions answered by 66 participants, totaling 1,656 valid responses. Mean scores by axis, indicators of extremism, variability, and contradictions were calculated, along with a statistical coherence metric and a descriptive typology of ideological profiles. The results indicate concentration in moderate positions and an association between more extreme positions, greater response variation, and more contradictions across themes, especially in the cultural axis. Thus, intensity of positioning does not guarantee internal coherence, and moderation does not necessarily correspond to consistency. Part of the data suggests compensatory choices, in which participants accept tensions in one position because they assign greater relevance to other benefits. The study concludes that the system contributes to investigating internal tensions in contemporary political thought.