Implicit Conditioning: A Decolonial Reframing of Cognitive Dissonance Second Edition By Christian ZacaTechO Ortiz

Implicit Conditioning: A Decolonial Reframing of Cognitive DissonanceBy Christian Ortiz – Decolonial Social Scientist This study presents a radical decolonial reframe of the psychological concept of cognitive dissonance, arguing that the term not only fails to address the structural roots of internal conflict, but also operates as a tool of white supremacist ideology. Drawing from interdisciplinary fields, including neuroscience, trauma studies, historical sociology, and decolonial theory, this work introduces the concept of Implicit Conditioning: the unconscious neurobiological, psychological, and sociocultural programming by which individuals absorb and defend systems of dominance such as white supremacy, patriarchy, ableism, and colonial capitalism. Where “cognitive dissonance” pathologizes discomfort as internal confusion, Implicit Conditioning reveals it as a systemic survival mechanism rooted in historical violence, institutional feedback loops, and racialized narratives of power. By applying a DEIBA (Decolonial, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging, Accessibility) lens, this study exposes how traditional psychological frameworks individualize dominance, sanitize structural harm, and uphold the myth of moral neutrality. This thesis dismantles the epistemic violence of Western behavioral science and centers the embodied, intergenerational realities of those impacted by empire. Through neuropsychological mechanisms—amygdala activation, prefrontal suppression, reward circuitry, and mirror neuron conditioning—the study offers a scientifically grounded argument for rethinking behavioral responses not as morally neutral but as neurologically encoded compliance with systems of power. Ultimately, Implicit Conditioning serves as a call to action for educators, psychologists, activists, and institutions to reject frameworks that protect dominance and instead embrace a vocabulary that exposes, rewires, and dismantles it. This is not a semantic correction—it is a revolutionary act of renaming in pursuit of collective liberation.