Denial, dissociation, and cognitive dissonance

Psychology names many ways we avoid updating the ISM. FPE classifies them as \(\mathcal{D}_{KL}\) management strategies — attempts to avoid the Landauer cost of erasing wrong bits.

The honesty penalty

\mathcal{D}_{KL}(P \,\|\, Q) = \sum_x P(x) \log\frac{P(x)}{Q(x)}.

When internal model \(Q\) ≠ reality \(P\), the brain must either:

update \(Q\) (expensive if ISM reorganisation is large), or
suppress surprise (continuous glucose burn; allostatic load).

“Psychosomatic” symptoms are often \(\mathcal{D}_{KL}\) paid in \(\Phi\) currency — cellular substrate eroding so the story can stay stable.

Three behavioural contributions (Part IV-B)

Type	Example	Cost
Self-directed	“I’m not angry”; unacknowledged grief	Interoceptive prediction-error suppression
Other-directed	Impression management, lying	Working memory + cue monitoring
Reality-directed	Delusion, institutional denial	Refusal to update world-model (Kuhnian stuck paradigm)

Cognitive dissonance (Festinger)

Dissonance is detected \(\mathcal{D}_{KL}\) between two high-salience beliefs or between belief and behaviour.

Classic responses map to denominator avoidance:

Response	FPE read
Change behaviour	Pay cost now; lower long-run \(\mathcal{D}_{KL}\)
Change belief	Update \(Q\)
Add consonant cognition	Patch \(Q\) without full update (rationalisation)
Trivialise	Lower precision on conflicting evidence
Suppress	Raise \(\Phi\) cost; keep \(Q\)

The “easiest” short-term move is often patch or suppress — lowers immediate discomfort, raises long-run \(\mathcal{D}_{KL}\).

Dissociation

Dissociation can be modelled as partitioning \(Q\) so that incompatible regions do not exchange prediction error:

functional in acute trauma (when \(\Psi\) is threat)
costly when partitions must merge for daily life

Trauma therapy that integrates memory is, in part, reducing \(\mathcal{D}_{KL}\) between partitions under safe \(\Psi\).

Denial in relationships

Stonewalling partner’s reality → other-directed \(\mathcal{D}_{KL}\)
“Everything is fine” couple → joint broadcast diverges from both ISMs → high \(\Gamma\) when truth leaks
Affair, secret debt → other-directed \(\mathcal{D}_{KL}\) + explosive \(\Gamma\) on discovery

Discovery events are denominator phase transitions: \(\mathcal{D}_{KL}\) was hidden, then integrates suddenly → \(\Gamma\) spike.

Delusion and psychosis

Persistent false belief = reality-directed \(\mathcal{D}_{KL}\) with failed precision weighting (Frith, Corlett). The FPE does not moralise; it predicts high energy tax and social \(\Gamma\) until model aligns or coupling changes.

Healthy truth-telling

Spiritual and clinical traditions converge: honesty lowers \(\mathcal{R}\)’s denominator. FPE gives the mechanism:

fewer surprise bits to erase
less \(\Phi\) spent on suppression
partners’ models of you stay accurate → lower \(\Gamma\)

Order of operations (Part IV-B): self → other → world-model.

Interruption

Safety (\(\Psi\), \(\Phi\)) — cannot integrate truth under threat.
Small \(\mathcal{D}_{KL}\) steps — one observable at a time.
Repair \(\Gamma\) after disclosure — or accept exit.
Avoid identity collapse — behaviour updates, not global self-condemnation (keeps defensive \(\mathcal{D}_{KL}\) high).