Willow's mother took away her television privileges as punishment for missing her curfew, when the punishment could have been much more severe, such as being grounded for a week and losing access to her cell phone. Why is Willow's mother using insufficient punishment, according to dissonance theory?

The theory of cognitive dissonance is premised on the personal effort of human beings to maintain coherence between their beliefs and opinions. When a person has a belief about something and acts differently than he believes, a situation of dissonance occurs. Thus, a person with cognitive dissonance behaves according to their perceptions and not according to reality. Willow knows that his behavior could be guided by severe punishment, but he knows that the punishment is actually mild. In this way, even having the real perception of the magnitude of his attitudes, he will have an incentive to act wrong again. In other words, mild punishment reinforces Willow's cognitive behavioral dissonance.