fun facts about leon festinger fun facts about leon festinger

Leon Festinger > Quotes > Quotable Quote (?) He published his paper on social comparison theory in 1954. The theory of cognitive dissonance has been used to increase health-promoting and other desirable behaviors. But given that they had sustained no damage, they also recognized that they had much less to be anxious about. ." Leon and Mary divorced years later. Emily Cummins received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and French Literature and an M.A. (Leon Festinger Papers, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.). - Definition & Exercises, Cognitive-Behavior Modification Approach by Meichenbaum, Embodied Cognition: Definition, Theory & Experiments, Cognitive Inhibition: Definition & Example, Cognitive Psychotherapy: Types & Techniques, Collective Memory: Definition, History & Theory, Diminished Capacity in Psychology: Definition & Examples, Memory Reconsolidation: Definition, Theory & Example, Memory Span: Definition, Measurement & Examples, Memory Suppression: Definition & Techniques, What is Lateral Thinking? The study documented a textbook phenomenon: friendships were more likely to occur the closer the people were physically (even by just a few yards). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 1999. Essentially, Festinger explained, all people hold certain beliefs, and when they are asked to do something that runs counter to their beliefs, conflict arises. Anne has experience in science research and creative writing. Festingers social psychological research in this groundbreaking venture began with his work with Back and Schachter on a study of graduate student housing (the Westgate housing study). Leon Festinger, 69, new school professor. WebSince this cant be done with facts, its done with people. 1. Festinger then became interested in archaeology as he wanted to see what else he could learn about human nature. Schachter, Stanley. 3 (2001): 383401. 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. Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) played such a major role in the emergence of the new scientific psychology as a discipline se, Leo, Leonardo (actually, Lionardo Ortensio Salvatore de), https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/festinger-leon, https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/applied-and-social-sciences-magazines/festinger-leon, https://www.encyclopedia.com/medicine/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/festinger-leon. Social psychology is closely related to organizational psychology, sociology and personality psychology. Festinger earned his masters degree in child behavior in 1940 and his PhD in child behavior in 1942. 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. Finally, we could change how you remember the situation that caused dissonance. Another way would be to change our action. Bruner, J. Hovland, Carl I. '': The group paid only $1, though, had to change their attitude to fit their behavior in order to reduce the cognitive dissonance of not only lying but also being paid very little to do so. It was all going to end in a great flood the morning on December 21, 1956. They paid volunteers either one dollar or twenty dollars to lie about a boring task being fun. He attended City College of New York, receiving his She has also worked as an ocean and Earth science educator. Festinger married Mary Oliver Ballou, a pianist, in 1942, and together they had three children: Richard, Kurt, and Catherine. Hochberg, J., & Festinger, L. (1979). 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. First, we might change our beliefs. Festinger, L. (1952). He is best known for developing cognitive dissonance theory and social comparison theory. Create your account. His questions focused on differences between the Eastern and Western or Roman church and the role such differences might have played in the differential development and acceptance of material technology in these two parts of the Roman empire (Schachter, 1994, p.106). A number of these experiments are reported in Festingers second book on dissonance theory, Conflict, Decisions, and Dissonance (1964). Festinger does not adequately explain how people decide on a strategy for reducing cognitive dissonance. Festinger, L. (1962). https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/festinger-leon, "Festinger, Leon The mind feels cognitive dissonance when the information it receives is contradictory to a personal belief and wants to make it more consistent. Foreword. Asch, S. Cacophonophobia. Contemporary Psychology: A Journal of Reviews, 3, no. Chapanis, N. P., and A. Chapanis. 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). They gathered a group of male students at Stanford University as their participants. Leon Festinger's Cognitive Dissonance Theory New York: Taplinger, 1977. The debates on cognitive dissonance are instructive on Festingers contributions on several counts, and on developments in postWorld War II psychology, especially social psychology. Social comparison theory has also been applied in several ways, a few of which are mentioned below: Cognitive dissonance theory remains one of the most popular theories in social psychology, but it is not without its critics. With customary dynamism, Festinger sought out colleagues in his new fields of interest, much as he drew together colleagues and students in his years of experimental research, including, during his early years, the well-remembered Tuesday Night Meeting or the Lewin-style Quasselstrippe, weekly meetings wholly given to collaborating on research (Patnoe, 1988). Back, K., Festinger, L., Hymovitch, B., Kelley, H., Schachter, S., & Thibaut, J. about their environment and their personalities. How Cognitive Dissonance Affects Workplace Behaviors, Stereotypes and Automatic & Controlled Information Processing, The Asch Study & Solomon Asch | Importance of Solomon Asch, Robert Zajonc's Social Facilitation Theory | Overview & Components, Introduction to Social Psychology: Kurt Lewin & Modern Uses, Overjustification Effect | Motivation & Examples, Cognitive Dissonance in Marketing | Use, Examples & Overview, Hunger vs. Appetite | Differences, Physiology & Cues, The Theory of Mind and the False Belief Task, Bandura Bobo Doll Experiment | Social Learning & Results, Penicillin Resistance: How Penicillin-Resistant Bacteria Avoid Destruction, Bem's Self-Perception Theory | Self-Perception Examples, Solomon Asch's Experiment | The Asch Effect: Examples. In 2002, the Review of General Psychology ranked Leon Festinger as the 5th most eminent psychologist of the 20th century. Leon Festinger, the creator of a revolutionary experiment Festinger was an American social psychologist who was born in New York in 1919. Festinger was born in Brooklyn New York on May 8, 1919 to Russian-Jewish immigrants Alex Festinger and Sara Solomon Festinger. His father, an embroidery manufacturer, had "left Russia a radical and atheist and remained faithful to these views throughout his life." His final academic pursuit was investigating why new technology tends to be adopted faster in the West than the East. "Deustch, 1999, p. 11, Perhaps one of the greatest impacts of Festingers studies lies in their "depict[ion] of social behavior as the responses of a thinking organism continually acting to bring order into his world, rather than as the blind impulses of a creature of emotion and habit," as cited in his Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award.American, 1959, p. 784 Behaviorism, which had dominated psychology until that time, characterized man as a creature of habit conditioned by stimulus-response reinforcement processes. Is there curvature adaptation not attributable to purely intravisual phenomena. The methodology of studying rumor transmission. Festinger was born on May 8, 1919 in Brooklyn New York to his Russian-Jewish immigrant parents. A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance What Is Cognitive Dissonance? Definition and Examples When Prophecy Fails. Comparisons in economic thought: Economic interdependency reconsidered. 1 (1964): 122. A Psychologist Broke Into A Cult. Heres The Weird Thing He Meet 5 of the Worlds Computer Programming Prodigies, 7 of the Best-Performing Cryptocurrencies and their Founders. Bem, D. J. In 1955, Festinger moved to Stanford University and published his theory of cognitive dissonance in 1957. The group paid $20 maintained that the experiment was boring. Abnormal Psychology: Homework Help Resource, Intro to Psychology Syllabus Resource & Lesson Plans, ILTS Social Science - Psychology (248) Prep, Human Growth and Development: Tutoring Solution, Human Growth and Development: Homework Help Resource, UExcel Social Psychology: Study Guide & Test Prep, Introduction to Educational Psychology: Certificate Program, Educational Psychology: Tutoring Solution, Research Methods in Psychology: Help and Review, Introduction to Psychology: Homework Help Resource, Create an account to start this course today. WebFestinger, Riecken and Schachter reported the following sequence of events: December 17. According to Festinger, the villagers naturally became anxious and terrified after learning of the extreme devastation in neighboring areas. Experimentation in Social Psychology. In The Handbook of Social Psychology: Second Edition, edited by Gardner Lindzey and Elliot Aronson. These types of quizzes help people to determine how they measure up to others or to what the editor says is desirable. A quantitative theory of decision. Omissions? In addition to physical distance, Festinger and his colleagues found that functional distance also predicted friendship formation. 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This became known as the principle of propinquity a fancy way of saying that the closer we are to someone physically, the more likely we are to be attracted to them. Festinger's research resulted in a number of interesting findings. When Lewin died unexpectedly in 1947, Festinger became director of the center and focused his attention fully on social psychology. Think back to our example about eating meat. 237238 Indeed, Stanley Schachter, Festingers student and research assistant at the time, states, "I was lucky enough to work with Festinger at this time, and I think of it as one of the high points of my scientific life. 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). In addition to challenging the dominance of behaviorism, Festinger spearheaded the use of scientific experimentation in social psychology. Leon Festinger (8 May 1919 11 February 1989) was an American social psychologist, perhaps best known for cognitive dissonance and social comparison theory. Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Evanston, IL: Row, Peterson. Cognitive dissonance involves how the mind tries to make inconsistent information consistent. In order to reduce it, the villagers altered one of their beliefs, convincing themselves that they did in fact have something to feara more severe disaster was supposedly on the horizon. He earned his bachelors degree in psychology in 1939 under the guidance of Max Hertzman. He was born in Brooklyn New York City on May 8, 1919. 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. Samelson, Franz. I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. Leon Festinger - FIRESTONE FALCONS FAMpeople is your site which contains biographies of famous people of the past and present. Suddenly, the leader claimed to have received another message from the Guardians stating that the world had been saved because of the force of good and light that had been spread by the group. What if you believed something but acted in a way that contradicted that belief? Retrieved April 27, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/festinger-leon. Social comparison theory posited that people evaluate their abilities and opinions by comparing them with those of others when it is not feasible to test them directly. According to Festinger, humans have a strong desire for consistency among cognitive elements. WebBiography Leon Festinger was born in Brooklyn, New York, on May 8, 1919. Retrieved from https://www.nap.edu/read/4547/chapter/5, Suls, J. Cognitive dissonance refers to feelings of discomfort that occur when our actions and beliefs don't match, when we hold competing beliefs, or when we encounter information that seems to challenge some of our beliefs. Accordingly, social psychology needed its own experimental approach. 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). It was at MIT that Festinger, in his own words, "became, by fiat, a social psychologist, and immersed myself in the field with all its difficulties, vaguenesses, and challenges. At Stanford, Festinger began to fully develop the idea he called cognitive dissonance. 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. (Eds.). Factors such as types of goals, need for social reality, attractiveness, issue relevance, and so on were manipulated. Social psychology and group processes. Festinger, L., Sedgwick, H. A., & Holtzman, J. D. (1976). "Festinger, Leon Leon Festinger - Interesting stories about famous people, ." In Extending Psychological Frontiers: Selected Works of Leon Festinger, edited by Stanley Schachter and Michael Gazzaniga. QAnon, Cognitive Dissonance, and Facts | Psychology Today With forty years of experimental psychology research behind him, Festinger closed his laboratory and turned to till new fields of inquiryanthropology, archaeology, and historyto wrestle with a larger question of what makes humans human, a quest of the origins of human societies and culture. The old man had been part of that great emigration of East European Jews in 'target="_blank">Leon Festinger - Interesting stories about famous people, . According to Festinger, two main factors influence the level of dissonance we experience in a given situation: Festinger specified three primary ways in which dissonance may be reduced: In 1954, Festinger proposed that humans have a natural drive to evaluate their opinions and abilities. Very few small discoveries turn out to be important over the years; things that would have sent me jumping and shouting in my youth now left me calm and judgmental. And even worse we do not seem to have been working on many of the important problems (Festinger, 1983, p. ix). 12 (1959): 784793. 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. 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. of Festinger, Schachter, Henry Riecken, and a complement of graduate students who entered the Seekers. SEE ALSO Aronson, Elliot; Attitudes; Cognitive Dissonance; Lewin, Kurt; Social Comparison. In the intervening years he taught statistics in the Army Specialized Training Program, granting him a deferral from service; was a research associate in psychology at the University of Iowa from 1941 to 1943; and was then once more deferred from the draft by working as a statistician for the Committee on Selection and Training of Aircraft Pilots at the University of Rochester (19431945). After just over a decade of research on cognitive dissonance, Festinger left the field of social psychology for research in perception and eye movements. In 1968, Festinger married New York University professor Trudy Bradley. Interaction of perceptually monitored and unmonitored efferent commands for smooth pursuit eye movements. Festinger, L., & Hutte, H. A. Many of the studies supporting the theory have been conducted in artificial lab environments which limits their application to real-life situations. Gruber, H., K. R. Hammond, and R. Jessor. As Festinger puts it: Social psychology. International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Festinger, L. (1959b). Retrieved April 27, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/medicine/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/festinger-leon. A theoretical interpretation of shifts in level of aspiration. As Festinger himself wryly reflected, technically my PhD is in child psychologyalthough I never saw a child (Patnoe, 1988, p. 252). WebIn 1957 Leon Festinger developed a theory that refers to a situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs or behaviors which produces a feeling of discomfort which in turn makes the person alternate one of the attitudes, beliefs or behaviors to rid the discomfort. The actual subjects tried to persuade the other discussion partners. In 1968, he left Stanford for The New School in New York City, where he conducted research on the visual system and perception. San Francisco, CA: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. Festinger, L. (1954). 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. and Ph.D. in Sociology. Milite, George A. WebThe Seekers were the subject of the book When Prophecy Fails by Leon Festinger, in which Laughead was given the pseudonym Dr. Armstrong and Martin the name Marian Keech. "Festinger, 1980, pp. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Miles, J. My graduate education did nothing to cure that. This change is usually in the direction of greater uniformity. Movement between studies in situ and the laboratory became a defining signature of Festingers early and most well-known social psychological research. Overtly changing a belief is often difficult, so most people will instead change the perceptions around their beliefs. Leon Festinger was a prominent American social psychologist. The technique described here is called hypocrisy induction. https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/applied-and-social-sciences-magazines/festinger-leon, "Festinger, Leon Festinger, L. (1950). WebSocial comparison theory was first proposed by Leon Festinger in 1954 and states that individuals are continually evaluating themselves in order to assess their own standing on a wide range of characteristics. A theory of social comparison processes. WebIn the 1950s, Leon Festinger was scratching his head over a group of people who called themselves The Seekers. 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. Half the group was offered a $1 bill; the rest were offered a $20 bill. You could just decide eating meat is okay. 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. Festinger discovered that students who had close social relationships had similar views on housing, while students who had differing attitudes on housing tended to be social isolates. In the late 1950s, two psychologists, Leon Festinger and James M. Carlsmith, did a cognitive dissonance experiment on what they called forced compliance. Leon Festinger | Biographical Memoirs: Volume 64 |The National EXPERIMENTAL DEMONSTRATIONS OF THE POWER OF DISSONANCE. According to Festinger, people are most likely to engage in comparisons with individuals who are similar to them on relevant dimensions. For example, liking was simply a function of reward according to behaviorism, so greater reward would produce greater liking; Festinger and Carlsmiths experiment clearly demonstrated greater liking with lower reward, a result that required the acknowledgement of cognitive processes. Looking Backward. In Retrospections on Social Psychology. Brehm, J., & Festinger, L. (1957). Cognitive Dissonance Renowned social psychologist, Leon Festinger, and his research team (1954) became interested in this case and decided to infiltrate and study the group to see ." Would you feel uncomfortable if you encountered information that seriously challenged some of these beliefs? Leon Festinger - Wikipedia Try refreshing the page, or contact customer support. 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). Turn to Social Psychology . WebCognitive dissonance is a part of this need for consistence. 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). However, dissonance reduction does not always happen. He was survived by his wife Trudy and four children. Encyclopedia.com. Monitor on Psychology, 33(7). Friendship processes.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. As Festinger explained, the group attempted to decrease the dissonance they felt as a result of the failed prediction by adding this new belief to explain away the inconsistency. In the study, undergraduate students of Introductory Psychology at Stanford University were asked to take part of a series of experiments. Festinger was born in Brooklyn New York on May 8, 1919 to Russian-Jewish immigrants Alex Festinger and Sara Solomon Festinger. Festinger hypothesized that cognitive dissonance is an aversive state and that an individual would be motivated to reduce dissonance. Four years later, he expressed disappointment at what the field of psychology and he himself had accomplished. Festinger, L. (1943a). Many people know that cigarettes cause cancer and other diseases, but nonetheless continue to smoke. Updates? Cognitive dissonance was conceptualized as a tension between opposing beliefs or between belief and behavior, with the tension functioning as a motivational force driving one to reduce the emotional or cognitive strain. Holtzman, J. D., Sedgwick, H. A., & Festinger, L. (1978). However, Festinger acknowledged that this drive might apply only to Western cultures which promote individual achievement and competition. One year after publishing his book on failed prophecy and cognitive dissonance, Festinger presented the full scope of his theory in A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (1957). He read the literature, spoke with the 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. Biographical Memoirs, 64, 98-110. Festinger, L., & Canon, L. K. (1965). Create your account, 13 chapters | Encyclopedia.com. xivxv Theories like cognitive dissonance could not be explained in behaviorist terms. Festinger, L. (1950b). The inconsistency causes an uneasy feeling, called dissonance. Leon Festinger | Encyclopedia.com Some of Festingers papers are archived in the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. "Deustch, 1999, p. 11 He "became a symbol of the tough-minded, theory-oriented, pure experimental scientist," while Ron Lippitt, a fellow faculty member at Lewins Research Center for Group Dynamics with whom Festinger often clashed, "became a symbol of the fuzzy-minded, do-gooder, practitioner of applied social psychology. https://www.apa.org/monitor/julaug02/eminent, 40+ Famous Psychologists (Images + Biographies), Cognitive Dissonance (Definition + Examples), Social Comparison Theory Leon Festinger (Definition + Examples). Groups (or clubs) were formed of previously unacquainted individuals who were asked to discuss various issues. Wicklund, Robert A., and Jack W. Brehm. Festinger infiltrated the Seekers with the goal of studying their cognitive reactions and coping mechanisms when their beliefs failed, a thought-process which Festinger Festinger, L. (1942a). Festinger One example of this is the Study Buddy application which lets students know when their classmates are studying. In his informal communication theory, he proposed that people are susceptible to social pressures when they are attracted to a group. Cognitive Dissonance | Encyclopedia.com ';s'+screen.width+'*'+screen.height+'*'+(screen.colorDepth? Second, once we become aware of this inconsistency, it will cause dissonance and, depending on how uncomfortable we are, we'll work to resolve this dissonance. Later Research Interests . International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Sampling and related problems in research methodology. As he took courses in one and another science, his impression of psychology grew as a science where there were stillquestions to be answered (p. 132), a field awaiting new contributions an irresistible draw to a young scientist and chess enthusiast. Meet 5 of the Worlds Computer Programming Prodigies, 7 of the Best-Performing Cryptocurrencies and their Founders.