Editing Cognitive dissonance (section)

=== Unpleasant medical screenings ===
In a study titled ''Cognitive Dissonance and Attitudes Toward Unpleasant Medical Screenings '' (2016), researchers Michael R. Ent and Mary A. Gerend informed the study participants about a discomforting test for a specific (fictitious) virus called the "human respiratory virus-27". The study used a fake virus to prevent participants from having thoughts, opinions, and feeling about the virus that would interfere with the experiment. The study participants were in two groups; one group was told that they were actual candidates for the virus-27 test, and the second group were told they were not candidates for the test. The researchers reported, "We predicted that [study] participants who thought that they were candidates for the unpleasant test would experience dissonance associated with knowing that the test was both unpleasant and in their best interest—this dissonance was predicted to result in unfavorable attitudes toward the test."<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Ent MR, Gerend MA | title = Cognitive dissonance and attitudes toward unpleasant medical screenings | journal = Journal of Health Psychology | volume = 21 | issue = 9 | pages = 2075–2084 | date = September 2016 | pmid = 27535832 | doi = 10.1177/1359105315570986 | s2cid = 6606644 }}</ref>