The origins of cognitive dissonance yale university. 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. Alan watts masturbation, religion, and love full wisdom duration. He earned a bachelor of science degree from city college of new york in 1939.
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. This work is a clearly stated theory on how humans think, decide, and defend their decisions. The origins of cognitive dissonance yale mind and development. Santos, and paul bloom yale university abstract n in a study explo ring the orig ins of cogni tive diss onance, presc hoole rs and capu chins were give n a choic e betw een two equa lly prefe rred alte rnatives two. The cognitive dissonance theory and its function in public. Festinger s 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. 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. But when you apply it to cultural narratives it can be likened to double think. In this paper, we are primarily interested in festingers theory as one of a diverse range of theories of human communication. Mozart effect, cognitive dissonance, and origins of music. Cognitive dissonance reduction can be seen as an antecedent condition which leads to activity oriented towards dissonance reduction just as hunger leads to activity oriented towards hunger reduction. This robust theory suggests that a motivational state of inner tension is triggered by logically inconsistent ways of thinking. Leon festingers theory of cognitive dissonance has been widely recognized for its important and influential concepts in areas of motivation and social psychology.
Theorist biography leon festinger, 1919 1989, was born to russianjewish immigrants alex festinger and sara solomon festinger in brooklyn, new york. Read online cognitive dissonance theory leon festinger 1957 book pdf free download link book now. Cognitive dissonance is the negative feeling that results from conflicting beliefs and behaviors. The distressing aversive mental state termed cognitive dissonance is therefore conceptualized as an aversive drive. A marketing and management perspective article pdf available in procedia social and behavioral sciences. A theory of cognitive dissonance by festinger, leon, 19191989. Major cognitive dissonance phenomena let us now turn to a brief discussion of major cognitive dissonance phenomena. This is known as the principle of cognitive consistency. 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. Cognitive dissonance theory has been known to play out in several ways.
D, quebec, 4faculty of medicine, laval university, quebec, canada. The main concepts of this theory are extremely simple. Gender identity during adolescents more pressure is put on behaving in certain ways that accommodate what is regarded as appropriate behaviour for the specific gender of the adolescent. Festinger and carlsmith cognitive consequences of forced compliance in festinger and carlsmiths classic 1956 study, undergraduate students of introductory psychology at stanford university were asked, during the first week of the course, to take part of a series of experiments. The theory is somewhat counterintuitive and, in fact, fits into a category of counterintuitive social. Green berets ultralight bug out bag with gear recommendations duration. Cognitive dissonance powerpoint presentation 2 authorstream presentation. Pdf the goal of the current study was to determine if people would change or retain their. In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance occurs when a person holds two or more. It refers to feelings of discomfort that occur when our. Cabanac3, marieclaude bonniotcabanac4, michel cabanac4. Cognitive dissonance is a theory developed by 20th century social psychologist leon festinger. Pros and cons of the cognitive dissonance theory l. The term cognitive dis sonance describes a psychological state in which an individuals cognitionsbeliefs, attitudes, and behaviorsare at odds.
Pojtant belief, the higher is the magnitude of dissonance we will fee in ex an our cognitive dissonance is like our. Most of them can generally be arranged into four groups. The theory has obviously stood the test of time in that it is mentioned in most general and social psychology textbooks today. Festingers theory of cognitive dissonance has been one of the most influential theories in social psychology jones, 1985. It is a very different motivation from what psychologist are used to dealing with but, as we shall see, nonetheless powerful. One key aspect of cognitive dissonance theory is that individuals experience a mental discomfort after taking actions that appear to be in con. The psychological discomfort that one feels when his actions are not aligned with his beliefs is called cognitive dissonance, which all of us strive to avoid as much as possible.
To deal with some of the horrors of the real world, we resolve our dissonance by making excuses, trying to rationalize, or ignoring injustice. The theoretical basis of the study is the theories of cognitive dissonance and cognitive congruence, social perception and. Leon festinger went to boys high school and acquired a bachelors degree in science at city college, new york in 1939. The magnitude of dissonance between one cognitive element and the remainder of the persons cognitions depends on the number and importance of cognitions that are consonant and dissonant with the one in question.
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 is the experience of being psychologically unstable because you are simultaneously holding two conflicting beliefs that can confuse your interpretation of reality. Festinger showed the power of cognitive dissonance at work in an interesting way. Known to others as a study on induced compliance benoit 1, festingers. If you continue browsing the site, you agree to the use of cookies on this website. You are advised to consult the publishers version publishers pdf if you wish to cite from it. The tension of dissonance motivates us to change eithergo 1. University of groningen patterns of cognitive dissonance in. Cognitive dissonance cognitive dissonance has been considered one of the most simplistic and widely accepted accounts of cognitive i. Almost half a century ago social psychologist leon festinger developed the cognitive dissonance theory festinger, 1957. He was born on 08 may, 1919 and became famous for his cognitive dissonance theory.
In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance occurs when a person holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values, or participates in an action that goes against one of these three, and experiences psychological stress because of that. L eon festinger was a social psychologist from new york city. Cognitive dissonance 1 theory paper cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is defined by influential psychologist leon festinger as an antecedent condition which leads to activity oriented toward dissonance reduction festinger, 1957, p. Show why other ways to reduce dissonance like avoidance will not work 7. According to this theory, when two actions or ideas are not psychologically consistent with each other, people do all in their power. An introduction to cognitive dissonance theory and an. The origins of cognitive dissonance evidence from childre n and monkeys louisa c. An introduction to the theory of cognitive dissonance. A cognitive dissonance approach harvard university. The mozart effect refers to scientific data on shortterm improvement on. Cognitive dissonance theory leon festinger 1957 pdf. Download cognitive dissonance theory leon festinger 1957 book pdf free download link or read online here in pdf. 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.
Pdf implicit attitudes as a cause of cognitive dissonance. All books are in clear copy here, and all files are secure so dont worry about it. He and an associate asked students to help in an extremely boring, repetitive manual task as part of an experiment. The effect of severity of initiation on liking for a group pdf. Show that dissonance can hurt selfesteem or increases guilt 5. 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. But even before festinger was the greek fabulist aesop. Cognitive dissonance an overview sciencedirect topics. This audio file was created from a revision of the article cognitive dissonance dated. Festingers cognitive dissonance theory and research. Festinger 1957 introduced the concept of cognitive dissonance after conducting an observational study of a cult dubbed as seekers by festinger and.
Our focus in this article is on how actions can induce changes in preferences, but there are other studies that use cognitive dissonance to explain preferences without appealing to any action. According to cognitive dissonance, if a person holds two beliefs that are relevant to one another but are inconsistent, dissonance will arise. Afterwards, all the students were asked to tell, individually, another student who was also to participate in the same experiment that the task was. Defination cognitive dissonance refers to a situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs or behaviors. Festinger s 1957 theory of cognitive dissonance suggested that individuals seek to maintain consonance or consistency. Cognitive dissonance theory predicts that the act of voting for a candidate leads to a more favorable opinion of the candidate in the future. While this seems cut and dry, the theory expands far beyond the constraints of the definition.
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