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CHAPTER 4 112 might have decreased threat perception and health anxiety, and increased approach behavior in their study as well. A possible explanation of the present findings comes from recent studies that challenge the idea that compulsions are mainly a response to obsessions to reduce the likelihood that a feared outcome will take place (e.g., Cougle & Lee, 2014; Gillan & Robbins, 2014; Robbins, Gillan, Smith, de Wit, & Ersche, 2012). Based on theories of moral reasoning and cognitive dissonance, it is argued that obsessive beliefs may be an epiphenomenon of OC symptoms. Moral reasoning is the conscious mental activity of altering information about people and their behavior in order to come to a moral judgment or decision. This is usually a post-hoc process, in which one searches for evidence to support an initial intuitive reaction (Haidt, 2007). In addition, cognitive dissonance theory states that individuals are motivated to reduce a conflict that arises when their behavior is not in line with their belief, by altering their belief so that it corresponds with their behavior (Festinger, 1957; Festinger & Carlsmith, 1959). When translating these theories to OCD it was suggested that compulsions create cognitive dissonance (Cougle & Lee, 2014; Gillan & Robbins, 2014). Obsessive thoughts may then arise to resolve the discrepancy between the individuals’ cognitions and their otherwise incomprehensible compulsive behaviors. Thus, obsessive beliefs could simply reflect post-hoc attempts to justify compulsive urges and behavior (“I am triple checking the electrical outlets and lights around the house, therefore I must be very responsible”, or “I am checking the stove repeatedly, therefore it must be highly likely that something very bad will happen otherwise”). Individuals with OCD may thus come to overestimate threat or perceive themselves as having an exaggerated sense of responsibility to explain their compulsive urges and to put their cognitions in line with their behavior. This is in line with recent findings that anxiety patients use their own behavior as information about the safety of a situation (Gangemi, Mancini, & van den Hout, 2012, van den Hout et al., 2014). In the present study it is therefore possible that individuals in the experimental group began to perceive potential threat in the environment as more severe to justify