The book’s vocabulary

Dissonance reduction

After the purchase, reassurance’s second job: making the trade-off feel worthwhile.

From The World That Agrees With You1 section of the book

After an important decision, reassurance takes a second job: easing the discomfort of holding conflicting thoughts about the choice. Recent car buyers read more advertisements for the brand they chose than for brands they had rejected.

Marketers have studied the opportunity for decades — reassuring buyers on the confirmation page, in the follow-up email. The question is whether the next message adds information or mainly helps you feel better about the purchase.

Definition from The World That Agrees With You: Understanding and Managing Sycophancy in the Age of AI, by Timothy O’Brien. © 2026 Timothy O’Brien. All rights reserved.

In the book

See also

  • Reassurance
  • Oppositional loyalty