Sloth tries to reduce his dissonance through deliberate misinterpretation of his supervisor’s remark.

 

 

Cognitive Dissonance:

 

Cognitive dissonance is the discomfort that people feel when they experience something that doesn’t agree with their existing knowledge or beliefs.  When Sloth’s supervisor tells him that he’s got a bad average rating for his trainings,  he experiences a discomfort because he believes that he is God’s Gift to his audience. This mismatch makes him uncomfortable and so he tries reduce is discomfort by finding a plausible connection between his belief and what his supervisor told him. (The sour grapes syndrome?)

Read more about Cognitive Dissonance here.

 

Level of Incompetence:

According to  Laurence Peter and Raymond Hull, in an organization, employees tend to rise in the organizational hierarchy, up to their level of incompetence. Simply said, employees are given promotions until they are found competent to perform the tasks of the higher position. When they reach a level where they are found incompetent to handle the responsibilities that come with the higher position, they stop growing. This is also the time when an employee begins to look for greener pastures. This particular concept gained popularity as the Peter Principle.

Read a review of the book, “The Peter Principle” here.