." This experiment reflects several features of Festingers research. He realized that the most devoted members of the cult refused to believe they were wrong, even when shown new information (evidence). An Experimental Test of a Theory of Decision. PhD diss., State University of Iowa, 1942. His work in social psychology focused on the impact of the social environment on the formation and change of attitudes, on processes of social comparison by which individuals evaluate their attitudes and abilities, and on the manner in which cognitive inconsistencies cause changes in attitudes and behaviors. These types of quizzes help people to determine how they measure up to others or to what the editor says is desirable. Miles, J. 'border="1" width="20" height="20"><\/a>')
. In such situations, the conflict between what we think and what we do results in mental discomfort. The group, understandably, became anxious and distraught. International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Maslow, Abraham For the next several years he made his living teaching at different universities until he went to Stanford in 1955. Festinger was born in New York City, on May 8, 1919, to Alex Festinger and Sara Solomon. Dissonance, Hypocrisy, and the Self-Concept. In Cognitive Dissonance, edited by Eddie Harmon-Jones and Judson Mills, 103126. Leon 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 thoughts and actions, leads to discomfort (dissonance), which motivates changes in thoughts or behaviours. 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 dissonance to become a part of public discourse. xivxv Theories like cognitive dissonance could not be explained in behaviorist terms. Some scholars consider this important since they doubt that people compare all of their abilities and opinions to those of others. They didn't need to adjust their attitude because they were paid plenty of money to lie. He stayed there until the end of World War II. Leon Festinger was a renowned American psychologist, researcher, and author. He is best known for developing cognitive dissonance theory and social comparison theory. In addition to challenging the dominance of behaviorism, Festinger spearheaded the use of scientific experimentation in social psychology. An experimental investigation of the effect of unstable interpersonal relations in a group. Some of Festingers papers are archived in the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. For abilities, observing those with similar abilities allows people to learn what actions they are capable of. Experimentation in Social Psychology. In The Handbook of Social Psychology: Second Edition, edited by Gardner Lindzey and Elliot Aronson. Many of the graduate students had interrupted their studies to serve in the war, as was the case with Schachter (with whom Festinger formed a close and lifelong friendship and colleagueship). 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 WebBiography Leon Festinger was born in Brooklyn, New York, on May 8, 1919. Development of differential appetite in the rat. Festinger was interested in how the group would respond to the discrepancy between their beliefs and the failed prophecy of an apocalypse. Festinger, L., & Katz, D. In 1959, Festinger and his colleague James Carlsmith devised an experiment to test people's levels of cognitive dissonance. In A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, Festingers third landmark publication, he hypothesized that any two bits of knowledge held by an individual could have three relationships to one another: they could be irrelevant to one another, consonant if one follows from the other, or dissonant if the obverse of one follows from the other. College students were asked to perform a series of repetitive menial tasks for a specified period of time. Festinger further suggested that social comparison is a deliberate process but subsequent research has shown that comparisons can also be involuntary and automatic. 169170. Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology. This is generally the most common way people reduce dissonance. WebIn 1988 Festinger became ill with a cancer that had metastasized to the liver and the lungs. As they finished, they were instructed that they had to inform the next group of students that the tasks had been enjoyable and interesting. The centre was committed to the application of psychological concepts and methods to solve social problems, and it attracted many talented students, including Stanley Schachter and Harold Kelley. WebWhat were Festinger's hypotheses on how dissonance could be reduced? Festinger, L. (1943). After Lewins death in 1947, the Research Center for Group Dynamics, with most of its remaining faculty, moved to the University of Michigan. "Festinger, 1980, p. 237, After graduating, Festinger worked as a research associate at Iowa from 1941 to 1943, and then as a statistician for the Committee on Selection and Training of Aircraft Pilots at the University of Rochester from 1943 to 1945 during World War II. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. Leon Festinger. American National Biography 7 (1999): 863864. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. A study of rumor transition: Its origin and spread. However, those who were only paid $1 to lie had to justify this some other way, in order to reduce the dissonance of both lying and receiving little reward. 1919-1989 American psychologist who developed the concept of cognitive dissonance. 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. lessons in math, English, science, history, and more. Asch's Conformity Experiment | What Was Asch's Line Study? Social psychology and group processes. WebSince this cant be done with facts, its done with people. Architecture and group membership. Coren, S., & Festinger, L. (1967). "Festinger, Leon The groups prophetess, Dorothy Martin (alias Mrs. Keech), foretold of the world ending on 21 December 1954. Leon Festinger. In her A Narrative History of Experimental Social Psychology. This change is usually in the direction of greater uniformity. Samelson, Franz. Leon Festinger - Cognitive dissonance | Britannica Leon Festinger | Encyclopedia.com Wundt, Wilhelm Directed by Lewin, Festingers dissertation An Experimental Test of a Theory of Decision (1942) represented an effort to bridge motivation theory (a more Lewinian approach) with psychophysics for a quantitative theory of decision. "Festinger, Leon Bruner, J. He is well known for cognitive dissonance and social comparison theory. In addition to challenging the dominance of behaviorism, Festinger spearheaded the use of scientific experimentation in social psychology. Cognitive dissonance or cognitive dissociation is a term in social psychology that describes a feeling of unease and internal conflict that occurs when someone deals with information contradictory to one's beliefs. Dein, S. What Really Happens When Prophecy Fails: The Case of Lubavitch. Sociology of Relgion 62, no. The Human Legacy. Leon Festinger (Psychologist Biography) | Practical Psychology Leon Festinger, the creator of a revolutionary experiment Festinger was an American social psychologist who was born in New York in 1919. ." In composing his theory, Festinger noted a major distinction between comparisons of abilities and opinions. Handbook of social psychology, vol 1, Theory and method, vol 2, Special fields and applications. According to Festinger, the villagers naturally became anxious and terrified after learning of the extreme devastation in neighboring areas. Psychological Statistics. Although precedents for this ambitious research program existed in earlier work by Lewin and the Turkish-born social psychologist Muzafer Sherif, Festinger magnified the experimenters role as playwright and stage director. Festinger then pursued graduate studies under Kurt Lewin at the University of Iowa. Amazing and Extraordinary NFT and Crypto-Savvy Kids and Teenagers who are Top 5 Extraordinary young language geniuses (polyglots) that would surprise and Allyn, J., & Festinger, L. (1961). Two of Festingers most definitive contributions to social psychology followed this methodological course. His father, an embroidery manufacturer, had "left Russia a radical and atheist and remained faithful to these views throughout his life. (2011). New York: Columbia University Press, 1983. In fact, Festingers rush to complete his doctoral studies in three years was motivated, he said, to avoid the war, claiming to be one of the original draft dodgers (Patnoe, 1988, p. 253). When people experience dissonance, they are motivated to reduce it, especially if it is causing a lot of stress or discomfort. As a result, he did not take a single social psychology course and chose instead to focus on Lewins earlier work. Interpersonal communication in small groups. London: Macat International Ltd. Third, we'll try and resolve this dissonance. Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology. Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Chapanis, N. P., and A. Chapanis. Encyclopedia.com. Factors such as types of goals, need for social reality, attractiveness, issue relevance, and so on were manipulated. copyright 2003-2023 Study.com. Festinger, L., & Holtzman, J. D. (1978). The results of their experiment demonstrated that inadequate external justification can lead to In so doing, he showed how the pressures to uniformity, hypothesized in the earlier article, arose from the process of social comparison. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Studies in decision: I. Decision-time, relative frequency of judgment and subjective confidence as related to physical stimulus difference. "Festinger, Leon Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 1999. Fester came up the idea of cognitive dissonance when studying cult members who believed a flood was going to destroy the world. 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. . Festinger, L. (1943a). Sampling and related problems in research methodology. He was also active in professional organizations including the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. According to Festinger, humans have a strong desire for consistency among cognitive elements. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leon-Festinger, The New York Times. The theory fails to address individual differences in peoples tolerance for cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance involves how the mind tries to make inconsistent information consistent. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. Leon Festinger was born on May 8, 1919 in Brooklyn, New York. 4 (2005): 12131214. I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. 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! II. Jeremy Varon: Bringing the War Home: The Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction, and Revolutionary Violence in the Sixties and Seventies. American Historical Review 110, no. "Schachter, 1994, p. 99 Festinger attended Boys High School in Brooklyn, and received his BS degree in psychology from the City College of New York in 1939.Schacter, 1994, p. 100, He proceeded to study under Kurt Lewin at the University of Iowa, where Festinger received his MA in 1940 and PhD in 1942 in the field of child behavior.American, 1959, p. 784 By his own admission, he was not interested in social psychology when he arrived at Iowa, and did not take a single course in social psychology during his entire time there; instead, he was interested in Lewins earlier work on tension systems, but Lewins focus had shifted to social psychology by the time Festinger arrived at Iowa.Festinger, 1980, p. 237 However, Festinger continued to pursue his original interests, studying level of aspiration,Festinger, 1942 working on statistics,Festinger, 1943aFestinger, 1943b developing a quantitative model of decision making,Carlsmith & Festinger, 1943 and even publishing a laboratory study on rats.Festinger, 1943c Explaining his lack of interest in social psychology at the time, Festinger stated, "The looser methodology of the social psychology studies, and the vagueness of relation of the data to Lewinian concepts and theories, all seemed unappealing to me in my youthful penchant for rigor. Think about some of your deeply-held beliefs. 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. In addition to the faculty mentioned above, there were several outstanding graduate studentsKurt Back, Morton Deutsch, Harold Kelley, Albert Pepitone, Stanley Schachter, and John Thibaut who would become defining figures in the field of social psychology. 1 (2006): 8894. The treatment of qualitative data by scale analysis. In 2002, the Review of General Psychology ranked Leon Festinger as the 5th most eminent psychologist of the 20th century. American Psychological Association. After completing the tasks, participants were asked to rate how exciting they found the task to be. Cognitive Dissonance . He was survived by his wife Trudy and four children. Social comparison theory also recognizes a distinctive feature of abilities. "Festinger, Leon Festinger had the opportunity to explore the concept of dissonance further when he and two colleagues infiltrated a small doomsday cult known as The Seekers. "Festinger, 1989, p. 253 He also stressed that laboratory experimentation "cannot exist by itself," but that "there should be an active interrelation between laboratory experimentation and the study of real-life situations. Studies in decision: II. Festinger sought to create situations that were real and important to the subject, arguing that only then might scientific psychologists be studying what subjects are experiencing, what some call hot cognitions set off by motivational and/or emotional forces, rather than cool cognitions, regarded as the product of rational thought. "Schachter, 1994, p. 102,
Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Effort Justification Theory & Examples | What is System Justification Theory? In his informal communication theory, he proposed that people are susceptible to social pressures when they are attracted to a group. Their study of Westgate housing offered a social ecology of group and friendship formation; people living close to or coming into frequent informal contact with one another (mail room, stairwell, etc.) It involves the likelihood that peoples paths will cross. Aronson, Elliot, and J. M. Carlsmith. often develop friendships. In addition to physical distance, Festinger and his colleagues found that functional distance also predicted friendship formation. Building collaborative networks among psychologists and graduate students went beyond the United States as Festinger created and directed the Committee of Transnational Social Psychology, and participated in its Summer Schools at which young scholars received training and at which were held scientific colloquia. Festinger, L., & Carlsmith, J. M. (1959). The Leon Festinger Theory of Cognitive Dissonance was created in the 1950s and conceptualized the dissonance, or a sense of unease, that a person feels Magazine editors often capitalize on peoples drive for social comparison in order to attract and engage readers. A number of these experiments are reported in Festingers second book on dissonance theory, Conflict, Decisions, and Dissonance (1964). Perspectives on Psychological Science - UC Santa Barbara Such knowledge may motivate them to do likewise. to form friendships with those living upstairs. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1957. Festinger, L., Gerard, H., Hymovitch, B., Kelley, H. H., & Raven, B. When they become aware of inconsistencies, it triggers an unpleasant psychological state of arousal, which then motivates them to reduce the inconsistency. Ideas on balance and imbalance, or consonance and dissonance, marked the age and its preoccupations with homeostatic processes. Alternative view of the "Gibson normalization effect". Many of the studies supporting the theory have been conducted in artificial lab environments which limits their application to real-life situations. Cognitive consequences of forced compliance. Conspiracies, Cults and Cognitive Dissonance Four years later, he expressed disappointment at what the field of psychology and he himself had accomplished. ' for 24 hours is shown" '+ Is there curvature adaptation not attributable to purely intravisual phenomena. First, Festinger suggested that people are aware when our beliefs and our actions are inconsistent. document.write('
. In such situations, the conflict between what we think and what we do results in mental discomfort. The group, understandably, became anxious and distraught. International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Maslow, Abraham For the next several years he made his living teaching at different universities until he went to Stanford in 1955. Festinger was born in New York City, on May 8, 1919, to Alex Festinger and Sara Solomon. Dissonance, Hypocrisy, and the Self-Concept. In Cognitive Dissonance, edited by Eddie Harmon-Jones and Judson Mills, 103126. Leon 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 thoughts and actions, leads to discomfort (dissonance), which motivates changes in thoughts or behaviours. 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 dissonance to become a part of public discourse. xivxv Theories like cognitive dissonance could not be explained in behaviorist terms. Some scholars consider this important since they doubt that people compare all of their abilities and opinions to those of others. They didn't need to adjust their attitude because they were paid plenty of money to lie. He stayed there until the end of World War II. Leon Festinger was a renowned American psychologist, researcher, and author. He is best known for developing cognitive dissonance theory and social comparison theory. In addition to challenging the dominance of behaviorism, Festinger spearheaded the use of scientific experimentation in social psychology. An experimental investigation of the effect of unstable interpersonal relations in a group. Some of Festingers papers are archived in the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. For abilities, observing those with similar abilities allows people to learn what actions they are capable of. Experimentation in Social Psychology. In The Handbook of Social Psychology: Second Edition, edited by Gardner Lindzey and Elliot Aronson. Many of the graduate students had interrupted their studies to serve in the war, as was the case with Schachter (with whom Festinger formed a close and lifelong friendship and colleagueship). 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 WebBiography Leon Festinger was born in Brooklyn, New York, on May 8, 1919. Development of differential appetite in the rat. Festinger was interested in how the group would respond to the discrepancy between their beliefs and the failed prophecy of an apocalypse. Festinger, L., & Katz, D. In 1959, Festinger and his colleague James Carlsmith devised an experiment to test people's levels of cognitive dissonance. In A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, Festingers third landmark publication, he hypothesized that any two bits of knowledge held by an individual could have three relationships to one another: they could be irrelevant to one another, consonant if one follows from the other, or dissonant if the obverse of one follows from the other. College students were asked to perform a series of repetitive menial tasks for a specified period of time. Festinger further suggested that social comparison is a deliberate process but subsequent research has shown that comparisons can also be involuntary and automatic. 169170. Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology. This is generally the most common way people reduce dissonance. WebIn 1988 Festinger became ill with a cancer that had metastasized to the liver and the lungs. As they finished, they were instructed that they had to inform the next group of students that the tasks had been enjoyable and interesting. The centre was committed to the application of psychological concepts and methods to solve social problems, and it attracted many talented students, including Stanley Schachter and Harold Kelley. WebWhat were Festinger's hypotheses on how dissonance could be reduced? Festinger, L. (1943). After Lewins death in 1947, the Research Center for Group Dynamics, with most of its remaining faculty, moved to the University of Michigan. "Festinger, 1980, p. 237, After graduating, Festinger worked as a research associate at Iowa from 1941 to 1943, and then as a statistician for the Committee on Selection and Training of Aircraft Pilots at the University of Rochester from 1943 to 1945 during World War II. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. Leon Festinger. American National Biography 7 (1999): 863864. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. A study of rumor transition: Its origin and spread. However, those who were only paid $1 to lie had to justify this some other way, in order to reduce the dissonance of both lying and receiving little reward. 1919-1989 American psychologist who developed the concept of cognitive dissonance. 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. lessons in math, English, science, history, and more. Asch's Conformity Experiment | What Was Asch's Line Study? Social psychology and group processes. WebSince this cant be done with facts, its done with people. Architecture and group membership. Coren, S., & Festinger, L. (1967). "Festinger, Leon The groups prophetess, Dorothy Martin (alias Mrs. Keech), foretold of the world ending on 21 December 1954. Leon Festinger. In her A Narrative History of Experimental Social Psychology. This change is usually in the direction of greater uniformity. Samelson, Franz. Leon Festinger - Cognitive dissonance | Britannica Leon Festinger | Encyclopedia.com Wundt, Wilhelm Directed by Lewin, Festingers dissertation An Experimental Test of a Theory of Decision (1942) represented an effort to bridge motivation theory (a more Lewinian approach) with psychophysics for a quantitative theory of decision. "Festinger, Leon Bruner, J. He is well known for cognitive dissonance and social comparison theory. In addition to challenging the dominance of behaviorism, Festinger spearheaded the use of scientific experimentation in social psychology. Cognitive dissonance or cognitive dissociation is a term in social psychology that describes a feeling of unease and internal conflict that occurs when someone deals with information contradictory to one's beliefs. Dein, S. What Really Happens When Prophecy Fails: The Case of Lubavitch. Sociology of Relgion 62, no. The Human Legacy. Leon Festinger (Psychologist Biography) | Practical Psychology Leon Festinger, the creator of a revolutionary experiment Festinger was an American social psychologist who was born in New York in 1919. ." In composing his theory, Festinger noted a major distinction between comparisons of abilities and opinions. Handbook of social psychology, vol 1, Theory and method, vol 2, Special fields and applications. According to Festinger, the villagers naturally became anxious and terrified after learning of the extreme devastation in neighboring areas. Psychological Statistics. Although precedents for this ambitious research program existed in earlier work by Lewin and the Turkish-born social psychologist Muzafer Sherif, Festinger magnified the experimenters role as playwright and stage director. Festinger then pursued graduate studies under Kurt Lewin at the University of Iowa. Amazing and Extraordinary NFT and Crypto-Savvy Kids and Teenagers who are Top 5 Extraordinary young language geniuses (polyglots) that would surprise and Allyn, J., & Festinger, L. (1961). Two of Festingers most definitive contributions to social psychology followed this methodological course. His father, an embroidery manufacturer, had "left Russia a radical and atheist and remained faithful to these views throughout his life. (2011). New York: Columbia University Press, 1983. In fact, Festingers rush to complete his doctoral studies in three years was motivated, he said, to avoid the war, claiming to be one of the original draft dodgers (Patnoe, 1988, p. 253). When people experience dissonance, they are motivated to reduce it, especially if it is causing a lot of stress or discomfort. As a result, he did not take a single social psychology course and chose instead to focus on Lewins earlier work. Interpersonal communication in small groups. London: Macat International Ltd. Third, we'll try and resolve this dissonance. Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology. Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Chapanis, N. P., and A. Chapanis. Encyclopedia.com. Factors such as types of goals, need for social reality, attractiveness, issue relevance, and so on were manipulated. copyright 2003-2023 Study.com. Festinger, L., & Holtzman, J. D. (1978). The results of their experiment demonstrated that inadequate external justification can lead to In so doing, he showed how the pressures to uniformity, hypothesized in the earlier article, arose from the process of social comparison. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Studies in decision: I. Decision-time, relative frequency of judgment and subjective confidence as related to physical stimulus difference. "Festinger, Leon Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 1999. Fester came up the idea of cognitive dissonance when studying cult members who believed a flood was going to destroy the world. 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. . Festinger, L. (1943a). Sampling and related problems in research methodology. He was also active in professional organizations including the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. According to Festinger, humans have a strong desire for consistency among cognitive elements. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leon-Festinger, The New York Times. The theory fails to address individual differences in peoples tolerance for cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance involves how the mind tries to make inconsistent information consistent. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. Leon Festinger was born on May 8, 1919 in Brooklyn, New York. 4 (2005): 12131214. I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. 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! II. Jeremy Varon: Bringing the War Home: The Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction, and Revolutionary Violence in the Sixties and Seventies. American Historical Review 110, no. "Schachter, 1994, p. 99 Festinger attended Boys High School in Brooklyn, and received his BS degree in psychology from the City College of New York in 1939.Schacter, 1994, p. 100, He proceeded to study under Kurt Lewin at the University of Iowa, where Festinger received his MA in 1940 and PhD in 1942 in the field of child behavior.American, 1959, p. 784 By his own admission, he was not interested in social psychology when he arrived at Iowa, and did not take a single course in social psychology during his entire time there; instead, he was interested in Lewins earlier work on tension systems, but Lewins focus had shifted to social psychology by the time Festinger arrived at Iowa.Festinger, 1980, p. 237 However, Festinger continued to pursue his original interests, studying level of aspiration,Festinger, 1942 working on statistics,Festinger, 1943aFestinger, 1943b developing a quantitative model of decision making,Carlsmith & Festinger, 1943 and even publishing a laboratory study on rats.Festinger, 1943c Explaining his lack of interest in social psychology at the time, Festinger stated, "The looser methodology of the social psychology studies, and the vagueness of relation of the data to Lewinian concepts and theories, all seemed unappealing to me in my youthful penchant for rigor. Think about some of your deeply-held beliefs. 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. In addition to the faculty mentioned above, there were several outstanding graduate studentsKurt Back, Morton Deutsch, Harold Kelley, Albert Pepitone, Stanley Schachter, and John Thibaut who would become defining figures in the field of social psychology. 1 (2006): 8894. The treatment of qualitative data by scale analysis. In 2002, the Review of General Psychology ranked Leon Festinger as the 5th most eminent psychologist of the 20th century. American Psychological Association. After completing the tasks, participants were asked to rate how exciting they found the task to be. Cognitive Dissonance . He was survived by his wife Trudy and four children. Social comparison theory also recognizes a distinctive feature of abilities. "Festinger, Leon Festinger had the opportunity to explore the concept of dissonance further when he and two colleagues infiltrated a small doomsday cult known as The Seekers. "Festinger, 1989, p. 253 He also stressed that laboratory experimentation "cannot exist by itself," but that "there should be an active interrelation between laboratory experimentation and the study of real-life situations. Studies in decision: II. Festinger sought to create situations that were real and important to the subject, arguing that only then might scientific psychologists be studying what subjects are experiencing, what some call hot cognitions set off by motivational and/or emotional forces, rather than cool cognitions, regarded as the product of rational thought. "Schachter, 1994, p. 102,
Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Effort Justification Theory & Examples | What is System Justification Theory? In his informal communication theory, he proposed that people are susceptible to social pressures when they are attracted to a group. Their study of Westgate housing offered a social ecology of group and friendship formation; people living close to or coming into frequent informal contact with one another (mail room, stairwell, etc.) It involves the likelihood that peoples paths will cross. Aronson, Elliot, and J. M. Carlsmith. often develop friendships. In addition to physical distance, Festinger and his colleagues found that functional distance also predicted friendship formation. Building collaborative networks among psychologists and graduate students went beyond the United States as Festinger created and directed the Committee of Transnational Social Psychology, and participated in its Summer Schools at which young scholars received training and at which were held scientific colloquia. Festinger, L., & Carlsmith, J. M. (1959). The Leon Festinger Theory of Cognitive Dissonance was created in the 1950s and conceptualized the dissonance, or a sense of unease, that a person feels Magazine editors often capitalize on peoples drive for social comparison in order to attract and engage readers. A number of these experiments are reported in Festingers second book on dissonance theory, Conflict, Decisions, and Dissonance (1964). Perspectives on Psychological Science - UC Santa Barbara Such knowledge may motivate them to do likewise. to form friendships with those living upstairs. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1957. Festinger, L., Gerard, H., Hymovitch, B., Kelley, H. H., & Raven, B. When they become aware of inconsistencies, it triggers an unpleasant psychological state of arousal, which then motivates them to reduce the inconsistency. Ideas on balance and imbalance, or consonance and dissonance, marked the age and its preoccupations with homeostatic processes. Alternative view of the "Gibson normalization effect". Many of the studies supporting the theory have been conducted in artificial lab environments which limits their application to real-life situations. Cognitive consequences of forced compliance. Conspiracies, Cults and Cognitive Dissonance Four years later, he expressed disappointment at what the field of psychology and he himself had accomplished. ' for 24 hours is shown" '+ Is there curvature adaptation not attributable to purely intravisual phenomena. First, Festinger suggested that people are aware when our beliefs and our actions are inconsistent. document.write('