Cognitive dissonance plays a huge role in the film. There are many cases of cognitive dissonance worth mentioning. The first event of cognitive dissonance is the flashback between Truman and Sylvia, Truman's first love. Sylvia had been an extra on the show and was not allowed to speak to Truman. Sylvia had not planned to do so, but after Truman's incessant urging, Sylvia relented. Even though Sylvia was still fulfilling her role as an actress, she felt bad about having lied to Truman her entire life. Eventually, Sylvia attempted to tell Truman that his life was a total farce and to expose the show. This is an example of cognitive dissonance because Sylvia's attitudes and behavior were at odds with each other. Sylvia had cared for Truman and hated what he was going through on the show. However, she remained an actress on the show for years and only when she was removed from the show did she attempt any action to get the show cancelled. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay Another example where attitudes contradicted each other occurred near the end of the show when Christof attempted to capture Truman and bring him back into the show. When Christof had asked the crew to create powerful waves that would roll over and potentially harm Truman. While many were afraid to disobey Christof and listened to his commands without hesitation, there were others who were unwilling to harm Truman. There were two feuding attitudes that some of the crew had to decide between. Ultimately, the crew disagreed with Christof's command. This scene was reminiscent of Stanley Milgram's studies. Even though they didn't think what they were doing was moral, they felt they had no choice to go against Christof's authority. Classical conditioning is another theme of the film. Truman's aversion to water is the result of strong classical conditioning. Although classical conditioning requires many trials for the stimulus to be truly conditioned, the “death” of Truman's father was a strong stimulus to pair with water. The death of Truman's father was a ploy used by Christof to inhibit any desire Truman may have to leave Seahaven. Truman's water phobia is shown when one of his colleagues asks him to close a deal located on land. Truman had attempted to go, but after seeing a sunken boat, he quickly returned home. His fear is so strong that he cannot drive over a bridge over water. Since his father returned to the show, the water phobia has ceased to exist. This example, while not exactly accurate, shows the power of classical conditioning. Water had always been a neutral stimulus for Truman. It was only when his father “drowned” in a violent sea storm that Truman associated the water with the aversive feeling he experienced during his father's death. Generalization is seen when Truman has a conditioned response to any type of moving water, be it a lake, an ocean, etc. We see the extinction when Truman steered his sailboat out to sea in an attempt to escape Seahaven. Because he knew his father was indeed alive, he no longer associated an adverse response with water. Finally, we see persuasion in several instances in the film. Since the show is broadcast 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, there is no room for commercials to advertise their products or services. Therefore, numerous times a day the actors of the show implicitly advertise different consumer goods. A great example is when Meryl offered Truman.