Leon Festinger

Leon Festinger (pronounced Feh-sting-er) (May 8, 1919 – February 11, 1989) was a social psychologist from New York City. He developed social comparison theory, according to which people evaluate their own opinions and desires by comparing themselves with others. However, Festinger is best known for his theory of cognitive dissonance, which suggests that inconsistency or “dissonance” among beliefs or behaviors and evidence causes an uncomfortable psychological tension, which needs to be eliminated in order to restore balance. The resolution of this tension, however, often does not involve a change in behavior, as would be expected, but rather it may take the form of increased commitment to the beliefs together with active efforts to persuade others of their veracity.

Life

Leon Festinger was born on May 8, 1919 to self-educated Russian-Jewish immigrants Alex Festinger (an embroidery manufacturer) and Sara Solomon Festinger in Brooklyn, New York. He attended Boys' High School and received a Bachelor's of Science degree at City College of New York in 1939.

After completing his undergraduate studies, he attended the University of Iowa where, as a student of Kurt Lewin, he received a Master’s in psychology and then received his Ph.D. in 1942. The same year, he married pianist Mary Oliver Ballou with whom he had three children (Catherine, Richard and Kurt). They later divorced.

Lewin created a Research Center for Group Dynamics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1945 and Festinger followed, becoming an assistant professor. After Lewin died in 1947, 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.

In 1955 he moved to Stanford University. During his years at Stanford in the 1950s and 1960s, he was at the height of his influence, and trained many young social psychologists, such as Elliot Aronson, who would proceed to become influential in their own careers. 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.

In the 1950s, Festinger was given as grant from the Behavioral Sciences Division of the Ford Foundation. This grant was part of the research program of the Laboratory for Research in Social Relations, which developed the Social Comparison Theory (Festinger, 1954). Festinger’s most well known work was his theory of cognitive dissonance. His interest in this area was initiated at MIT with Kurt Lewin’s research group, and further developed in Michigan and Minnesota. After masterful experimentation on this topic, culminating in the publication of work that has been referred to as “the most important development in social psychology to date” (Brehm and Cohen 1976), Festinger moved on to new areas of research. At Stanford he became interested in the study of visual perception, conducting experiments on a variety of issues in this field for several years (Schacter 1994). He then began an exploration of the “nature of man” based on archaeological data, visiting archaeological sites and working with specialists in the field. He published his ideas, which included speculations on the development of division of labor in primitive society, in 1983 in “The Human Legacy”. His final area of interest was the history of religion. Working with medieval and Byzantine scholars he researched differences between the Eastern and Roman churches and the role these might have played in technological development (Schachter 1994), although he died before this work was published.

Festinger received a number of honors and awards during his distinguished career. In 1959 he received the Distinguished Scientist Award of the American Psychological Association (APA). He was also elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in that year. Other honors included the Distinguished Senior Scientist Award of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology.

In 1988 Festinger was diagnosed with cancer of the liver. He died on February 11, 1989.

Work

At MIT, Festinger began a series of experiments on social influence and communication using rigorous experimental and theoretical precision. Having directed a study of housing satisfaction among MIT students, Festinger developed experiments to go beyond the correlational data obtained from questionnaires in order to investigate the mechanisms and causal relationships among social factors. This work led Festinger and his students to develop an “experimental laboratory program of research that many consider the birth of systematic experimental social psychology” (Schachter 1994).

Propinquity

Leon Festinger’s early work in social psychology involved the theory of propinquity, which refers to the physical or psychological proximity between people and the corresponding likelihood to form friendships based on this proximity. He and his colleagues developed this idea in what came to be called the Westgate studies conducted at MIT (Festinger, Shachter, and Back 1950).

The propinquity effect is the tendency for people to form friendships or romantic relationships with those whom they encounter often. In other words, relationships tend to be formed between those who have a high propinquity. The typical Euler diagram used to represent the propinquity effect is shown below where U = universe, A = set A, B = set B, and S = similarity:

The sets are basically any relevant subject matter about a person, persons, or non-persons, depending on the context. Propinquity can be more than just physical distance. Residents of an apartment building living near a stairway, for example, tend to have more friends from other floors than others. The propinquity effect is usually explained by the mere exposure effect, which holds that the more exposure a stimulus gets, the more likeable it becomes.

Social comparison theory

Festinger initially proposed Social comparison theory initially in 1954. This theory is based on the idea that there is a drive within individuals to look to outside images in order to evaluate their own opinions and abilities. These images may be a reference to physical reality or in comparison to other people. People look to the images portrayed by others to be obtainable and realistic, and subsequently, make comparisons among themselves, others, and the idealized images.

In order to create this theory, Festinger used research from colleagues that focused on social communication, group dynamics, the autokinetic effect, compliant behavior, social groups, and level of aspiration (Festinger, 1954; Kruglanski & Mayseless, 1990). In his article, he sourced various experiments with children and adults, however, much of his theory was based on his own research (Festinger, 1954).

In his initial theory, Festinger hypothesized several things. First, he stated that human beings have a drive to evaluate themselves by examining their opinions and abilities in comparison to others. To this, he added that the tendency to compare oneself with some other specific person decreases as the difference between his opinion or ability and one’s own become more divergent. He also hypothesized that there is an upward drive towards achieving greater abilities, but that there are non-social restraints which make it nearly impossible to change them, and that this is largely absent in opinions (Festinger, 1954).

He continued with the idea that to cease comparison between one’s self and others causes hostility and deprecation of opinions. His hypotheses also stated that a shift in the importance of a comparison group will increase pressure towards uniformity with that group. However, if the person, image or comparison group is too divergent from the evaluator, the tendency to narrow the range of comparability becomes stronger (Festinger, 1954). To this he added that people who are similar to an individual are especially good in generating accurate evaluations of abilities and opinions (Suls, Martin, and Wheeler, 2002). Lastly, he hypothesized that the distance from the mode of the comparison group will affect the tendencies of those comparing; that those who are closer will have stronger tendencies to change than those who are further away (Festinger, 1954).

While there have been changes in Festinger’s original concept, many fundamental aspects remain, including the similarity in the comparison groups, the tendency towards social comparison and the general process that is social comparison (Kruglanski and Mayseless, 1990).

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 (Festinger et al. 1956).

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 discordant 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."

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

Legacy

Cognitive dissonance has become a common interpretation of many everyday occurrences. For example, people are well-informed that cigarette smoking is harmful to their health, and to that of others, yet many persist in the practice. When challenged, they find numerous ways to disregard the dissonant information or adjust their beliefs about their situation.

While a highly established theory, cognitive dissonance has not been not without its share of criticisms. Methodological ambiguities were reported in classic cognitive dissonance studies (Chapanis and Chapanis 1964). Such criticisms encouraged experiments that are more soundly designed, yielding additional data supporting the phenomenon, although still not distinguishing the precise mechanism.

The cognitive dissonance interpretation has numerous applications to our everyday lives. It is observable in consumerism, as a person makes a choice to buy one product over another. Any comparison of the bad features of the chosen product and the good features of the product not chosen results in dissonance. The consumer, in order to lessen the discomfort of such conflicting cognitions, generally avoids further comparisons, and when forced to confront such features changes his evaluation of the importance of the dissonant features.

The cognitive dissonance model also explains why those who join a group after going through a difficult qualification process value their membership highly, regardless of whether the group actually fulfills their expectations. Thus, the practice of "hazing" new members of college fraternities and sororities guarantees loyalty, as the new member cannot change the behavior they were required to go through in order to join, and so can only change their belief that membership in the group is valuable and justifies such behavior.

Major publications

• Festinger, Leon. 1950. Informal social communication. Psychological Review, 57:271-282.
• Festinger, Leon. 1954. A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7(2) 117-140.
• Festinger, Leon. 1957. A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0804701318
• Festinger, Leon. 1983. The Human Legacy. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231056729
• Festinger, Leon, Stanley Schachter, and Kurt Back (eds.). 1950. Social Pressure in Informal Groups: A Study of Human Factors in Housing. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0804701741
• Festinger, Leon, Henry W. Riecken, and Stanley Schachter. 1956. When Prophecy Fails: A Social and Psychological Study of a Modern Group that Predicted the End of the World Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0061311324
• Festinger, Leon and J. M. Carlsmith. 1959. Cognitive consequences of forced compliance Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 58 203-211. Retrieved July 23, 2008.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Suls, J. M., and R. L. Miller (eds.). 1977. Social comparison processes: Theoretical and empirical perspectives. Washington, DC: Hemisphere.
• Kruglanski, A. W., and O. Mayseless. 1990. Classic and current social comparison research: Expanding the perspective. Psychological Bulletin, 108(2), 195-208.
• Suls, J., R. Martin, and L. Wheeler. 2002. Social Comparison: Why, with whom and with what effect? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11(5), 159-163.
• Suls, J., and L. Wheeler. 2000. A Selective history of classic and neo-social comparison theory. Handbook of Social Comparison. New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.

• Stone, Jon R. (ed.). 2000. Expecting Armageddon: Essential Readings in Failed Prophecy. Routledge. ISBN 041592331X

• Milite, George A. Festinger, Leon (1919-1989) Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology, 2nd ed. Gale Group, 2001. Retrieved July 23, 2008.
• Schachter, Stanley. 1994 Leon Festinger National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoirs 64: 99-111. Retrieved July 23, 2008.
• Brehm, Jack W., and A. R. Cohen (eds.). 1976. Explorations in Cognitive Dissonance. New York, NY: Wiley.
• Brehm, Jack W. 1998. Leon Festinger. in Michael Wertheimer and Gregory A. Kimble (eds.). Portraits of Pioneers in Psychology, Volume III. Lawrence Erlbaum. ISBN 0805826203
• Chapanis, N. P., and A. Chapanis. 1964. Cognitive dissonance: Five years later. Psychological Bulletin 61:1-22.

External links

• Biography: Leon Festinger
• Leon Festinger (1919-1989)

• Propinquity Effect
• Leon Festinger, 69, New School Professor New York Times Obituaries.

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