Bob decides not to drink anymore beer because he thinks it is unhealthy. While a graduate student at the University of Iowa, Festinger worked with Kurt Lewin, who is known as the 'Father Leon Festinger. Self-Perception: An Alternative Interpretation of Cognitive Dissonance Phenomena. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 1 (1967): 199218. screen.colorDepth:screen.pixelDepth))+';u'+escape(document.URL)+ Leon Festinger, 69, new school professor. A theoretical interpretation of shifts in level of aspiration. Historian of psychology Edwin G. Boring (1964) went so far as to parallel Festingers studies of cognitive dissonance with the condition of the scientist, instancing occasion after occasion where the scientist persists and perseveres in the face of cognitive dissonance. Hochberg, J., & Festinger, L. (1979). He was also active in professional organizations including the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1945 Festinger moved again to become an assistant professor in Lewins newly founded Research Center for Group Dynamics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It has since evolved into an online blog and YouTube channel providing mental health advice, tools, and academic support to individuals from all backgrounds. Comparative PsychologyHolland H. Waters and Bradford N. Bunnell He was interested in trying to understand how people make sense of things when beliefs and actions don't match. When a person's behavior or beliefs change in response to cognitive dissonance, the term to describe this phenomenon is called dissonance reduction. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leon-Festinger, The National Academies Press - Biographical Memoirs - Leon Festinger, MLibrary Digital Collections - Bentley Historical Library - Leon Festinger papers: 1939-1988, GoodTherapy - Biography of Leon Festinger. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology. This means that, in Western cultures, complete opinion agreement may be satisfactory to everyone, but completely equal abilities will not beimplying that a state of social quiescence is never reached, as Festinger put it. Achieving similarity with others (i.e., fitting in) makes us more confident about our own opinions and abilities. He published his paper on social comparison theory in 1954. The results of their experiment demonstrated that inadequate external justification can lead to Festinger believed that people want balance in their lives and that cognitive dissonance was a way to bring back a lost sense of balance. What was the 1st study's method? Experimentation in Social Psychology. In The Handbook of Social Psychology: Second Edition, edited by Gardner Lindzey and Elliot Aronson. Festingers main contributions to social psychology occurred over the next twenty years. The smaller the functional distance, the more likely it is that people will bump into one another. Initially, much communication was directed at the deviate, but communication declined when the deviate proved impossible to convince, and the deviate was nominated for the most undesirable club assignments. Hoffman, P. J., Festinger, L., & Lawrence, D. H. (1954). ';s'+screen.width+'*'+screen.height+'*'+(screen.colorDepth? The term cognitive dissonance has since its conception entered into everyday conversation, and is used routinely in newspaper and popular journals as shorthand for mental tension, or conflicting beliefs, or inconsistency in belief and behavior across topics as wide-ranging as war, eating disorders, and risk and denial. Festinger passed away a few months later on February 11, 1989, before his final research findings could be published. It has inspired works of fiction and stimulated research in other disciplines, including religious studies, political science, economics, sociology, legal theory, and philosophy of science. Festinger and Carlsmith theorized that the group who was paid $20 didn't really need to justify why they had lied; they were paid a lot of money to do it! (Eds.). However, cult members would be saved by flying saucers that would take them to another planet. "Festinger, Leon Cognitive dissonance may well serve as his signature in social psychology and as a marker of ideas prevalent in postWorld War II psychology. The other students, however, had to justify having spent time doing useless tasks and getting only a dollar as a reward. Boring, Edwin G., L. J. Cronbach, R. S. Crutchfield, et al. The groups prophetess, Dorothy Martin (alias Mrs. Keech), foretold of the world ending on 21 December 1954. In 1939 he earned a bachelor of science degree in psychology at the City College of New York, where he became attracted to the work of psychologist Kurt Lewin (18901947). He realized that the most devoted members of the cult refused to believe they were wrong, even when shown new information (evidence). Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. These include the magnitude of dissonance and the modification of cognitive elements. "Festinger, Leon Festinger, L., Cartwright, D., Barber, K., Fleischl, J., Gottsdanker, J., Keysen, A., & Leavitt, G. (1948). Visual-perception during smooth pursuit eye-movements. Retrieved April 27, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/applied-and-social-sciences-magazines/festinger-leon. Schachter, S. (1994). The couple had three childrenCatherine, Richard, and Kurt. Festinger, L., Torrey, J., & Willerman, B. These theories "Festinger, Leon He and his wife Sara were self-educated. "Zukier, p. xiv An obituary published by the American Psychologist stated that it was "doubtful that experimental psychology would exist at all" without Festinger.Zajonc, 1990, p. 661 Yet it seems that Festinger was wary about burdensome demands for greater empirical precision. The accuracy of two-dimensional saccades in the absence of continuing retinal stimulation. From the Westgate housing study came Festingers formulation on informal communication and social comparison processes, especially what Festinger called a pressure toward uniformity, or the tendency of individuals to compare and then align opinions with those whose views are closer to ones own. For his dissertation, Schachter, under Festingers direction, placed accomplices in groups. (1953). The leader of the group claimed to be receiving messages from extraterrestrials called the Guardians. ." WebThe Cognitive Dissonance Experiment is based on the theory of cognitive dissonance proposed by Leon Festinger in the year 1957: People hold many different cognitions about their world, e.g. His theories and research are credited with repudiating the previously dominant behaviorist view of social psychology by demonstrating the inadequacy of stimulus-response conditioning accounts of human behavior.Zukier, 1989, p. xv Festinger is also credited with advancing the use of laboratory experimentation in social psychology,Zukier, 1991, p. xiv although he simultaneously stressed the importance of studying real-life situations,Festinger, 1953, pp.