Cognitive dissonances occur when: a) gods don’t answer one’s prayers b) we see people worshiping different deities with the same fervor c) religions evolve and accept new ideas d) religions drop certain practices e) when experienced reality contradicts basic religious beliefs

e)

Explanation:

In psychology, Cognitive Dissonances refer to the distress that one person feels when he/she holds two or more contradictory ideas or when the person experiences evidences that contradict his/her own beliefs. What the person tries to do is to find a way to reduce the contradiction to reduce the dissonance (stress) this situation generates them.

When examining the options given, we can tell that e) When experienced reality contradicts basic religious beliefs is one of the definitions of generators of cognitive dissonances since reality (experience) contradicts religious (personal) own beliefs.

Note:

a) is not an example of cognitive dissonance because there's nothing in reality that contradicts the belief. The person can actually think that he's not good enough for God to answer his/her prayers.

b) Is not an example since the fact that different people worship different deities does not necessarily questions our own beliefs.

c) Religions evolve and accept new ideas. This could create cognitive Dissonance in some people (since technically, God's word is eternal) but it's not necessarily a cause of cognitive dissonance.

d) Religious drop certain practices. Similar as c)