Cognitive dissonance theory after 50 years of development. Cognitive dissonance explains why people change their attitudes or behaviors when they are introduced to new and contradicting information. The tasks were designed to induce a strong, negative, mental attitude in the subjects. Cognitive dissonance exists in large proportions because if we were always aware of how unjust society is, we would be sad and angry all of the time. Cognitive dissonance theory links actions and attitudes. While at the university of minnesota, festinger read about a cult that believed that the end of the world was at hand. Fortunately cognitive dissonance can be reduced by several techniques. This study intended to know how marketers used theory of. This suggests that when people experience cognitive dissonance it is only their explicit attitudes which they alter, meaning that implicitly their attitudes remain the same. Theorist biography leon festinger, 1919 1989, was born to russianjewish immigrants alex festinger and sara solomon festinger in brooklyn, new york. Pros and cons of the cognitive dissonance theory l.
Persisting cognitive dissonance harmfully interacts with high cognitive load by. Leon festingers theory of cognitive dissonance has been widely recognized for its important and influential concepts in areas of motivation and social psychology. Leon festinger leon festinger cognitive dissonance. The term cognitive dis sonance describes a psychological state in which an individuals cognitionsbeliefs, attitudes, and behaviorsare at odds. Keech, reported receiving messages from extraterrestrial aliens that the world would end in a great flood on a specific date. The phenomenon of cognitive dissonance has been investigated through a long period of time, as it involves many areas of psychology such as attitudes and prejudice, moral. The following article by leon festinger and james m. Leon festinger went to boys high school and acquired a bachelors degree in science at city college, new york in. The magnitude of dissonance is directly proportional to the number of discrepant cognitions and inversely proportional to the number of consonant cognitions that a person has. Festingers cognitive dissonance theory and research examples. This produces a feeling of discomfort leading to an alteration in one of the attitudes, beliefs or behaviors to reduce the discomfort and restore balance etc. Cognitive dissonance has negatively direct effect on anticipated satisfaction.
To deal with some of the horrors of the real world, we resolve our dissonance by making excuses, trying to rationalize, or ignoring injustice. Finally, the authors present results from experiments examining predictions derived from the actionbased model and neural processes involved in dissonance reduction. A theory of cognitive dissonance by leon festinger 30jun. Almost half a century ago social psychologist leon festinger developed the cognitive dissonance theory festinger, 1957. Dissonance spring is an international small group meeting for researchers interested in cognitive conflict models with a focus on cognitive dissonance theory, to be held in may 2020.
Cognitive theories of motivation rely on your thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes to explain your motivation. Cognitive dissonance refers to a situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs or behaviors. Ronis ohio state university recent revisions of cognitive dissonance theory no longer encompass some of the important examples, data, and hypotheses that were part of festingers original statement. Show that dissonance can hurt selfesteem or increases guilt 5. The theory of dissonance is here applied to the problem of why partial reward, delay of reward, and effort expenditure during training result in increased resistance to extinction. In the cognitive consequences of forced compliance 1959, the investigators leon festinger and merrill carlsmith asked students to spend an hour doing tedious tasks. Mar 31, 2017 the strangest secret in the world by earl nightingale full 1950 duration.
A common example of cognitive dissonance occurs in the purchasing decisions we make on a regular basis. But even before festinger was the greek fabulist aesop. Download cognitive dissonance theory leon festinger 1957 book pdf free download link or read online here in pdf. These two concepts are theoretically distinct and the first is now referred to as cognitive inconsistency an introduction to cognitive dissonance theory and. Leon festinger, born may 8, 1919, brooklyn, new york, u. Afterwards, all the students were asked to tell, individually, another student who was also to participate in the same experiment that the task was. Cognitivedissonancetheory after50yearsofdevelopment. Carlsmith is the classic study on dissonance theory.
Cognitive dissonance has been one of the most enduring and successful theories in the history of social psychology. This article was originally published in the encyclopedia of. It is a very different motivation from what psychologist are used to dealing with but, as we shall see, nonetheless powerful. Cognitive dissonance leon festinger according to cognitive dissonance theory, there is a tendency for individuals to seek consistency among their cognitions i. Another way of reducing this discomfort is to add new beliefs which support the conflicting behavior.
This produces a feeling of mental discomfort leading to an alteration. When there is an inconsistency between attitudes or behaviors dissonance, something must change to eliminate the. Hence, in smokers case, knowing cigarettes will cause harm on their health yet they are smoking, will induce the psychological discomfort. Cognitive dissonance describes an intense emotional stress reaction experienced after an individual recognizes that they hold two or more contradictory beliefs at the same time festinger, 1957. Cognitive dissonance post purchase has been a marketers. Cognitive dissonance has negatively direct effect on word of mouth communication. Leon festinger was the first psychologist to study cognitive dissonance around the 1950s, and his works, such as books and experiments, helped to shed light on the ways in which humans act to decrease cognitive dissonance. The cognitive dissonance theory and its function in public.
Show why other ways to reduce dissonance like avoidance will not work 7. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. She attracted a group of followers who left jobs, schools, and spouses and. The present experiment sought to demonstrate the presence of cognitive dissonance after making a difficult decision concerning morality.
All books are in clear copy here, and all files are secure so dont worry about it. Cognitive dissonance theory leon festinger 1957 pdf. Known to others as a study on induced compliance benoit 1, festingers experiment encouraged. This is known as the principle of cognitive consistency. Alan watts masturbation, religion, and love full wisdom duration. Festingers cognitive dissonance theory and research.
Festinger presented dissonance theory during the hey day of cognitive consistency theories. Spreading of alternatives according to research derived from cognitive dissonance theory, after individuals make. The theory of cognitive dissonance festinger, 1957. Festinger imagined a number of methods for dealing with cognitive dissonance. The cognitive dissonance experiment is based on the theory of cognitive dissonance proposed by leon festinger in the year 1957.
Festingers theory of cognitive dissonance has been one of the most influential theories in social psychology jones, 1985. The theoretical basis of the study is the theories of cognitive dissonance and cognitive congruence, social perception and causal attribution, as well as the socio. In general, social psychologists, always looking for the next great theory, seemed to have shelved this book and its concepts within a couple of decades after it came out in 1957 see leon festingers comments 30 years later in appendix b of cognitive dissonance progress on a pivotal theory in social. Cognitive dissonance is the experience of being psychologically unstable because you are simultaneously holding two conflicting beliefs that can confuse your interpretation of reality. Miller and others published cognitive dissonance theory festinger find, read and cite all the research you need on researchgate. Evidence from children and monkeys egan, santos, bloom, 2007 indicated that there might be evolutionary force behind the reduction of cognitive dissonance in the actions of preschoolage children and capuchin monkeys when offered a choice between two like options, decals and. According to marcia gruber 2003, dissonance refers to the personal tension or stress experienced when an individuals actions contradict or are inconsistent with his or her values or beliefs p.
Cognitive dissonance, mass media and the enslavement of the. This article was originally published in the encyclopedia. People hold many different cognitions about their world, e. Most of them can generally be arranged into four groups. Defination cognitive dissonance refers to a situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs or behaviors. Cognitive dissonance 1 theory paper cognitive dissonance. An introduction to cognitive dissonance theory and an. This discomfort happens when realizing the logic that two things that oppose each cannot both be true. The strangest secret in the world by earl nightingale full 1950 duration.
Cognitive dissonance a cognitive theory of motivation. Leon festinger s theory of cognitive dissonance has been widely recognized for its important and influential concepts in areas of motivation and social psychology. This robust theory suggests that a motivational state of inner tension is triggered by logically inconsistent ways of thinking. Reducing persisting cognitive dissonance and dropout. Cognitive dissonance has negatively direct effect on consumption value. Adding new beliefs helps outweigh the dissonance beliefs, which reduces cognitive dissonance to. Festinger showed the power of cognitive dissonance at work in an interesting way. It refers to feelings of discomfort that occur when our actions and beliefs dont match, when we hold.
Thus, attitude change would be consistent with the recent behavior. Cognitive dissonance is a theory developed by 20th century social psychologist leon festinger. The most famous and widely cited of these theories is cognitive dissonance cdt. Benoits discussion of persuasion and the characteristics of the cognitive dissonance theory, he stresses different aspects of festingers results that make it worthy of further study but also questions the validity of the experiment altogether. Benoits discussion of persuasion and the characteristics of the cognitive dissonance theory, he stresses different aspects of festinger s results that make it worthy of further study but also questions the validity of the experiment altogether. A cognitive dissonance approach avidit acharya, stanford university matthew blackwell, harvard university maya sen, harvard university the standard approach in positive political theory posits that action choices are the consequences of preferences. Pdf the goal of the current study was to determine if people would change or retain their explicit attitudes toward disliked.
Cognitive dissonance theory and research dominated social psychology from the 1950s until the 1970s. A theory of cognitive dissonance by festinger, leon, 19191989. This work is a clearly stated theory on how humans think, decide, and defend their decisions. According to this view, dissonance only occurs when one behaves contrary to hisher selfview. The theory revolutionized thinking about psychological processes, particularly regarding how rewards influence attitudes and behavior, and how behavior and motivation influence perception and cogni. The origins of cognitive dissonance mind and development lab. Rydel et al strived to conduct research into what psychological states accompany cognitive dissonance. An introduction to the theory of cognitive dissonance. He and an associate asked students to help in an extremely boring, repetitive manual task as part of an experiment. Festinger used the same term, dissonance, to refer to the discrepancy between cognitions and to psychological discomfort.
It holds that dissonance is experienced whenever one cognition that a person holds follows from the opposite of at least one other cognition that the person holds. Dissonance is experienced when the behavior we practice is conflicting with our beliefs, as is known. The hypothesis being tested is a simple yet powerful. In general, social psychologists, always looking for the next great theory, seemed to have shelved this book and its concepts within a couple of decades after it came out in 1957 see leon festinger s comments 30 years later in appendix b of cognitive dissonance progress on a pivotal theory in social. Abstractcognitive dissonance occurs when ones belief is contradicting with the behavior, according to festingers cognitive dissonance theory. Pdf a theory of cognitive dissonance semantic scholar. Leon festingers theory of cognitive dissonance has not been adequately researched in its application to morality i. This is not an example of the work produced by our essay writing service. Cognitive dissonance, mass media and the enslavement of. Pdf implicit attitudes as a cause of cognitive dissonance. But when you apply it to cultural narratives it can be likened to double think. Cognitive dissonance was first introduced through social psychology, but still plays a fundamental role in public relations. Festingers 1957 cognitive dissonance theory suggests that we have an inner drive to hold all our attitudes and behavior in harmony and avoid disharmony or dissonance.
Originally published in the journal of abnormal and social psychology in 1959, cognitive consequences of forced compliance by leon festinger and james carlsmith was the first of numerous studies to corroborate the theory of cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is the negative feeling that results from conflicting beliefs and behaviors. Read online cognitive dissonance theory leon festinger 1957 book pdf free download link book now. Major cognitive dissonance phenomena let us now turn to a brief discussion of major cognitive dissonance phenomena. Cognitive dissonance theory has been known to play out in several ways. Understanding cognitive dissonance in smoking behaviour. If you study psychology there is a very good chance that you will be introduced to the theory of cognitive dissonance. According to cognitive dissonance, if a person holds two beliefs that are relevant to one another but are inconsistent, dissonance will arise. The results reported in the origins of cognitive dissonance. This paper examines the origins of the theory and the controversies it engendered.