In such situations, the conflict between what we think and what we do results in mental discomfort. We can do this by changing our actions, changing our beliefs, or by changing our perception of a situation that caused dissonance. 1957. Leon Festinger - Wikipedia Basically, you're changing your perception of your action to reduce dissonance. An Experimental Test of a Theory of Decision. PhD diss., State University of Iowa, 1942. Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Leon Festinger's Theory of Cognitive Dissonance - Study.com Leon Festinger (8 May 1919 11 February 1989) was an American social psychologist, perhaps best known for cognitive dissonance and social comparison a principle he perhaps most famously practiced when personally infiltrating a doomsday cult. Many people know that cigarettes cause cancer and other diseases, but nonetheless continue to smoke. The theory of cognitive dissonance was first published in 1957. He published his paper on social comparison theory in 1954. Encyclopedia.com. Festinger, L. (1955a). Time after time, Festinger brackets together his love of science and fascination of games, especially chess. Retinal image smear as a source of information about magnitude of eye-movement. He realized that the most devoted members of the cult refused to believe they were wrong, even when shown new information (evidence). The Research Center for Group Dynamics gathered at MIT a pioneering group of psychologists and graduate students in psychology, who simultaneously carved out the work of the center and launched their careers at the cutting-edge of the field. Updates? In the late 1950s, two psychologists, Leon Festinger and James M. Carlsmith, did a cognitive dissonance experiment on what they called forced compliance. In so doing, he showed how the pressures to uniformity, hypothesized in the earlier article, arose from the process of social comparison. Think back to our example about eating meat. As dissonance theory gained scientific acceptance, the term cognitive dissonance came to be used by columnists and other commentators to describe the psychological discomfort that follows the arrival of unwanted or unexpected information or events. In 1945, Festinger moved to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to join Kurt Lewins Research Center for Group Dynamics as an assistant professor. Summary Of The Cognitive Dissonance Theory Festinger hypothesized that cognitive dissonance is an aversive state and that an individual would be motivated to reduce dissonance. Interestingly, the students who had been paid one dollar stated that they actually did find the tasks enjoyable. Leon Festinger. Hertzman, M., & Festinger, L. (1940). Hochberg, J., & Festinger, L. (1979). Leon Festinger (Psychologist Biography) | Practical Psychology Festinger & Carlsmith, 1959 With Festingers theories and the research that they generated, "the monolithic grip that reinforcement theory had held on social psychology was effectively and permanently broken. Wish, expectation, and group standards as factors influencing level of aspiration. First, we might change our beliefs. Festinger continued his research at the University of Iowa until 1943. Enrolling in a course lets you earn progress by passing quizzes and exams. Cognitive dissonance. His father, an embroidery manufacturer, had "left Russia a radical and atheist and remained faithful to these views throughout his life. London: Macat International Ltd. Festinger filtered Lewinian notions of life space, force fields, and tension in developing his theory of cognitive dissonance, influencing the larger shift-change in mid-twentieth-century U.S. psychology away from behaviorism, toward what some saw as a more imaginative side to human life (Gruber, Hammond, & Jessor, 1957). CONTROVERSIES AND ALTERNATIVE MODELS. However, when Bob is at a friend's house during the Superbowl, everyone is drinking beers. Half of the subjects were paid $1 to do this, and half were paid $20 to do this. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. He is best known for his work A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (1957), which inspired a great deal of creative research and caused the term cognitive Many of the studies supporting the theory have been conducted in artificial lab environments which limits their application to real-life situations. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 1999. "Festinger, Leon 4 (2005): 12131214. ." 'border="1" width="20" height="20"><\/a>')
. His thesis, like his undergraduate research, demonstrates the influence of Lewins field theory concepts of need, tension, valence, force, and energy. The same principle has been used to reduce littering, speeding and prejudiced responses, and to promote water conservation, recycling, and charitable donations. Architecture and group membership. As a member, you'll also get unlimited access to over 88,000 After completing the tasks, participants were asked to rate how exciting they found the task to be. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1745-6924.2006.t01-3-.x?journalCode=ppsa. It begins with the idea of cognitions. Retrieved April 27, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/festinger-leon. Miles, J. Leon Festinger | Encyclopedia.com Schachter, Stanley. Elected to the American Academy of Sciences in 1959 and the National Academy of Sciences in 1972, Festinger was celebrated in 1980 by the Distinguished Senior Scientist Award from the Society of Experimental Social Psychology. His thesis Wish, Expectation, and Group Performance as Factors Influencing Level of Aspiration (1940) extended his undergraduate research, a study of tensions between individual and group comparison in levels of aspiration under varying conditions of expectations, intentions, wishes, ideals, and goals. Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology. ' for 24 hours is shown" '+ Because the theory was stated in such simple, general terms, it could be applied to a wide variety of situations. However, cult members would be saved by flying saucers that would take them to another planet. Trends in Cognitive Theory. In Contemporary Approaches to Cognition, edited by H. Gruber, K. R. Hammond, and R. Jessor. After just over a decade of research on cognitive dissonance, Festinger left the field of social psychology for research in perception and eye movements. THOUGHTS OUT OF TUNE Journal of Abnormal and Festinger, L., Cartwright, D., Barber, K., Fleischl, J., Gottsdanker, J., Keysen, A., & Leavitt, G. (1948). ' for 24 hours is shown" '+ For example, in one study, college students who often engage in risky sexual behaviors were asked to prepare and give a speech on the importance of safe sex. As he saw it, the laboratory could limit theory and research because one has purified the thing so that you can see whether or not what you are looking for is there. To Festinger, switching back and forth between laboratory studies and studies in the real world, or field studies, as he referred to them, helped to clarify theory and get hunches and that kind of thing (Patnoe, 1988, p. 255). New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1989. about their environment and their personalities. This upward drive is a motivation to keep performing better and better, and it leads to ability comparisons with similar individuals who are slightly more capable than we are. Almost from its inception, cognitive dissonance was met with trenchant critique, whether for not find[ing] a place for the description of phenomena (Asch, 1958, p. 195), for assuming that action and cognition somehow have to be brought into line with one another (Bruner, 1957), for reducing complex social psychological phenomena to two discrepant statements (Chapanis & Chapanis, 1964), or for the evidence fitting a theory of self-perception better than cognitive dissonance (Bem, 1967). Festinger, Leon. Leons father, an embroidery manufacturer, had left Russia an atheist and a radical, and he remained faithful to these convictions throughout his life. Leon Festinger was born in Brooklyn, New York, on 8 May 1919 to Russian-Jewish immigrants, Alex Festinger and Sara Solomon Festinger. Festinger, L., Torrey, J., & Willerman, B. When people experience dissonance, they are motivated to reduce it, especially if it is causing a lot of stress or discomfort. Festingers initial interest in social psychology was sparked by accident. Please select which sections you would like to print: Professor Emeritus, Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City. At Stanford, Festinger began to fully develop the idea he called cognitive dissonance. The methodology of studying rumor transmission. WebRecall that Leon Festinger and J. Merrill Carlsmith (1959) paid participants either $1 or $20 to tell another person that a boring, tedious task was really fun and interesting. WebIn the 1950s, Leon Festinger was scratching his head over a group of people who called themselves The Seekers. Editor. Handbook of social psychology, vol 1, Theory and method, vol 2, Special fields and applications. Festinger, L. (1943e). This seems like the easiest approach but people don't tend to change their beliefs that often or that easily. The poorly paid volunteers experienced cognitive dissonance, and later started to believe the task was more interesting than they initially thought it was. ." WebWhat were Festinger's hypotheses on how dissonance could be reduced? Yet, you sometimes prepare and eat meat. 2023 . Festinger was interested in Lewins efforts to establish psychology as a field with dynamic processes involving perception, motivation, and cognition. However, when Festinger arrived at the university, Lewins interests had shifted to group dynamics or social psychology. Factors such as types of goals, need for social reality, attractiveness, issue relevance, and so on were manipulated. In Encyclopedia Britannica. The main goal of the experiment was to see if people would change their beliefs to match their actions, in an effort to reduce the dissonance of not enjoying a task but lying about it. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley and Sons. It involves the likelihood that peoples paths will cross. Introduction. WebLeon Festinger, (born May 8, 1919, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.died February 11, 1989, New York City), American cognitive psychologist, best known for his theory of cognitive dissonance, according to which inconsistency between thoughts, or between But the influence of the theory of cognitive dissonance and the original study of the millennialist group has been far more extensive than numbers alone can convey. As a result of these changes, behavior might also change. Plus, get practice tests, quizzes, and personalized coaching to help you Informal social communication theory was about the power of the group over the person. Festinger, L., & Carlsmith, J. M. (1959). Ms. Keech received a phone call from person identifying themselves as "Captain Video" (b. Brooklyn, New York, 8 May 1919; d. New York, New York, 11 February 1989). Leon Festinger (8 May 1919 11 February 1989) was an American social psychologist, perhaps best known for cognitive dissonance and social comparison theory. Festinger, L., Sedgwick, H. A., & Holtzman, J. D. (1976). On the basis of these messages, she predicted that a global flood would destroy the world on December 21, 1954. Many believers quit their jobs and disposed of their money, homes, and possessions in preparation for that event. Throughout Festingers research there runs the common thread of calculated tension between alternatives or contrary forces, which impel a change in thinking, feeling, or behavior (Zukier, 1989, p. xvii). He is best known for developing cognitive dissonance theory and social comparison theory. For example, if someone decided never to eat candy bars because they are unhealthy, but then ate one with a friend, they might try to reduce their cognitive dissonance by deciding it is okay to a eat candy bar with friends. Smith, M. B. Festinger, L., & Hutte, H. A. Festinger, L. (1947b). College students were asked to perform a series of repetitive menial tasks for a specified period of time. It would not be until three years after completing his doctoral studies that Festinger immersed [himself] in the field [of social psychology] with all its difficulties, vaguenesses, and challenges (Festinger, 1980, p. 237). However, sometimes conflicting information cannot be fitted into a worldview and is not made congruent. Gazzaniga, M. S. Leon Festinger: Lunch with Leon. Perspectives on Psychological Science 1, no. In composing his theory, Festinger noted a major distinction between comparisons of abilities and opinions.

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