Leon Festinger

Leon Festinger (pronounced Feh-sting-er) (May 8, 1919 – February 11, 1989) was a social psychologist from New York City who became famous for his Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (Festinger, 1957). Festinger earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the City College of New York in 1939. After completing his undergraduate studies, he attended the University of Iowa where he received his Ph.D. in 1942. Festinger studied under Kurt Lewin, who is often considered the father of social psychology.

Over the course of his career, Leon Festinger taught at a number of universities, including the University of Iowa, the University of Rochester, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Minnesota, the University of Michigan, and Stanford University. During his years at Stanford in the 1950s and 1960s, he was at the height of his influence,[1] and trained many young social psychologists who would proceed to become influential in their own careers (e.g. Elliot Aronson). In 1968 he went to the New School for Social Research in New York City, where he remained until his death in 1989.

Festinger is best known for his theory of cognitive dissonance, which suggests that inconsistency among beliefs or behaviors will cause an uncomfortable psychological tension, leading to people to change their beliefs to fit their behavior instead of changing one's behavior to fit their belief, as conventionally assumed. Festinger also proposed social comparison theory, according to which people evaluate their own opinions and desires by comparing themselves with others.

Festinger is also known for developing the theory of propinquity, along with Schacter and Back, which refers to the physical or psychological proximity between people and the corresponding likelihood to form friendships based on this proximity.

Life

Born to self-educated Russian-Jewish immigrants Alex Festinger (an embroidery manufacturer) and Sara Solomon Festinger in Brooklyn, New York, Leon Festinger attended Boys' High School and received a bachelor's in science at City College of New York in 1939. He received a Master's in psychology from the University of Iowa in 1942 after studying under prominent social psychologist Kurt Lewin, who was trying to create a "field theory" of psychology (by analogy to physics) to respond to the mechanistic models of the behaviorists.

The same year, he married pianist Mary Oliver Ballou with whom he had three children (Catherine, Richard and Kurt) before divorcing.

Lewin created a Research Center for Group Dynamics at MIT in 1945 and Festinger followed, becoming an assistant professor. Lewin passed away in 1947 and Festinger left to become an associate professor at the University of Michigan, where he was program director for the Group Dynamics center.

In 1951 he became a full professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota. His 1953 book Research Methods in the Behavioral Sciences (with Daniel Katz) stressed the need for well-controlled variables in laboratory experiments, even if this meant misinforming the participants.

In 1955 he moved to Stanford University. Finally, in 1968 he became Staudinger Professor of Psychology at the New School for Social Research in New York.

He remarried the following year to Trudy Bradley, a professor at the NYU School of Social Work. They had no children.

Cognitive dissonance

The theory of cognitive dissonance was developed by Leon Festinger in the mid-1950s, after observing the counterintuitive persistence of members of a UFO doomsday cult and their increased proselytization after their leader's prophecy failed to materialize. Festinger interpreted the failed message of earth's destruction, sent by extraterrestrials to a suburban housewife, as a "disconfirmed expectancy" that increased dissonance between cognitions, thereby causing most members of the impromptu cult to lessen the dissonance by accepting a new prophecy: That the aliens had instead spared the planet for their sake.

The basic theory is as follows. Cognitions which contradict each other are said to be "dissonant." Cognitions that follow from, or fit with, one another are said to be "consonant." "Irrelevant" cognitions are those that have nothing to do with one another. It is generally agreed that people prefer "consonance" in their cognitions, but whether this is the nature of the human condition or the process of socialization remains unknown.

For the most part, this phenomenon causes people who feel dissonance to seek information that will reduce dissonance, and avoid information that will increase dissonance. People who are involuntarily exposed to information that increases dissonance are likely to discount such information, by either ignoring it, misinterpreting it, or denying it.

The introduction of a new cognition or a piece of knowledge that is "dissonant" with a currently held cognition creates a state of "dissonance." The magnitude of which correlates to the relative importance of the involved cognitions. Dissonance can be reduced either by eliminating dissonant cognitions, or by adding new consonant cognitions. It is usually found that when there is a discrepancy between an attitude and a behavior, it is more likely that the attitude will adjust itself to accommodate the behavior.

Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance can account for the psychological consequences of disconfirmed expectations. One of the first published cases of dissonance was reported in the book, When Prophecy Fails (Festinger et al. 1956). Festinger and his associates read an interesting item in their local newspaper headlined "Prophecy from planet clarion call to city: flee that flood."

Festinger and his colleagues saw this as a case that would lead to the arousal of dissonance when the prophecy failed. They infiltrated Mrs. Keech's group and reported the results, confirming their expectations.

Prior to the publication of cognitive dissonance theory in 1956, Festinger and his colleagues had read an interesting item in their local newspaper. A Chicago housewife, Mrs. Marion Keech, had mysteriously been given messages in her house in the form of "automatic writing" from alien beings on the planet "Clarion," who revealed that the world would end in a great flood before dawn on December 21. The group of believers, headed by Mrs. Keech, had taken strong behavioral steps to indicate their degree of commitment to the belief. Some had left jobs, college, and spouse to prepare to leave on the flying saucer which was to rescue the group of true believers.

Festinger saw this as a case that would lead to the arousal of dissonance when the prophecy failed. Altering the belief would be difficult. Mrs. Keech and the group were highly committed to it, and had gone to considerable expense to maintain it. A more likely option would be to enlist social support for their original belief. As Festinger wrote, "If more and more people can be persuaded that the system of belief is correct, then clearly it must after all be correct." In this case, if Mrs. Keech could add consonant elements by converting others to the basic premise, then the magnitude of her dissonance following disconfirmation would be reduced. Festinger predicted that the inevitable disconfirmation would be followed by an enthusiastic effort at proselytizing to seek social support and lessen the pain of disconfirmation.

Festinger and his colleagues infiltrated Mrs. Keech's group and reported the following sequence of events:

• Prior to December 20. The group shuns publicity. Interviews are given only grudgingly. Access to Mrs. Keech's house is only provided to those who can convince the group that they are true believers. The group evolves a belief system—provided by the automatic writing from the planet Clarion—to explain the details of the cataclysm, the reason for its occurrence, and the manner in which the group would be saved from the disaster.
• December 20. The group expects a visitor from outer space to call upon them at midnight and to escort them to a waiting spacecraft. As instructed, the group goes to great lengths to remove all metallic items from their persons. As midnight approaches, zippers, bra straps, and other objects are discarded. The group waits.
• 12:05 a.m., December 21. No visitor. Someone in the group notices that another clock in the room shows 11:55 p.m. The group agrees that it is not yet midnight.
• 12:10 a.m. The second clock strikes midnight. Still no visitor. The group sits in stunned silence. The cataclysm itself is no more than seven hours away.
• 4:00 a.m. The group has been sitting in stunned silence. A few attempts at finding explanations have failed. Mrs. Keech begins to cry.
• 4:45 a.m. Another message by automatic writing is sent to Mrs. Keech. It states, in effect, that the God of Earth has decided to spare the planet from destruction. The cataclysm has been called off: "The little group, sitting all night long, had spread so much light that God had saved the world from destruction."
• Afternoon, December 21. Newspapers are called; interviews are sought. In a reversal of its previous distaste for publicity, the group begins an urgent campaign to spread its message to as broad an audience as possible.

Thus, Festinger's prediction was confirmed, and the theory of cognitive dissonance was presented to the public (Festinger et al. 1956).

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Leon Festinger, Henry W. Riecken, & Stanley Schachter, When Prophecy Fails: A Social and Psychological Study of a Modern Group that Predicted the End of the World (University of Minnesota Press; 1956).
• Jon R. Stone (ed.). Expecting Armageddon: Essential Readings in Failed Prophecy (Routledge; 2000). ISBN 0-415-92331-X.
• Leon Festinger, A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (Stanford University Press; 1957).
• Festinger, L., Schachter, S., Back, K., (1950) "The Spatial Ecology of Group Formation," in L. Festinger, S. Schachter, & K. Back (eds.), Social Pressure in Informal Groups, 1950. Chapter 4.

External links

• Brief biographical page

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