The proponent of cognitive dissonance theory is ().

The theory of cognitive dissonance was put forward by Leon Festinger.

Leon Festinger (1919.05.08-1989.02.11) is an American social psychologist. It mainly studies people's expectations, ambitions and decisions, and studies social and psychological problems such as prejudice and social influence by experimental methods. His cognitive dissonance theory has a great influence. 1959 was awarded the Outstanding Scientific Contribution Award by the American Psychological Association, and 1972 was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Personal data:

19 19 On May 8th, Leon Festinger was born in a Russian Jewish immigrant family in Brooklyn, new york, USA. His father Alex Festinger is a self-taught embroidery manufacturer, and his mother is Sarah Solomon Festinger. 65438-0939, obtained a bachelor's degree in psychology from City University of new york. After that, he went to the University of Iowa to do research work under the guidance of K. Lei Wen. 1940 master's degree, University of Iowa.

1942 obtained a doctorate in psychology from the University of Iowa and applied for an associate researcher at the University of Iowa. 1943- 1945 teaches at the university of rochester, 1945 works as a statistician at the aircraft pilot selection and training center of the university of rochester. From 65438 to 0945, he entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and participated in the research work of the Group Dynamics Research Center established by Lei Wen. After Lei Wen's death, he served as the planning director of the Group Dynamics Research Center of the University of Michigan at 1948.

195 1, Professor of Psychology, University of Minnesota, 1955, Professor of Psychology, Stanford University. In the same year, he became a member of the National Academy of Sciences. From 1968, he was transferred to new york Institute of New Society as a professor of psychology until his death, and married TrudyBradley from 1969.

He mainly studies people's expectations, ambitions and decisions, and studies social and psychological problems such as prejudice and social influence by experimental methods. In his early years, he studied the level of desire with Lei Wen and put forward the theory of social comparison, which promoted the development of group dynamics. From 1968, he left the field of social psychology and focused on the physiological psychology research of perceptual problems, but his influence mainly lies in social psychology.

His contribution to psychology mainly comes from his research results in social psychology, especially because of his cognitive dissonance theory: cognitive dissonance theory was put forward by him in the book 1957, and individuals tend to adjust themselves psychologically in two ways. One is to deny new cognition;

The other is to seek more information of new cognition and enhance the credibility of new cognition, thus completely replacing old cognition and achieving psychological balance. This theory is the main theory to explain the intrinsic motivation of individuals in nature, so it is widely used as an important basis to explain the changes of individual attitudes. Cognitive dissonance theory is a new viewpoint of dynamic psychology. At first, the main source of cognitive dissonance theory construction was that he and his students hid in a group of believers and studied their cognitive dissonance.

These believers believe that there will be a big flood one day, and their guardians will fly a spaceship to rescue them and take them to safety. In this regard, he and his students put forward a hypothesis: suppose someone believes something very much, suppose he is bound by his own beliefs, and then he takes irreparable action. In this way, if he finally has undeniable evidence to prove that his belief is wrong, then this person will not be depressed, but will have a firmer belief.

Festinger's observation is just like the previous hypothesis. When the date of the flood is predicted, there will be no spaceship and no flood. Some staunch believers (who may quit their jobs and sell their property) believe in this belief more, so as to make up for the difference between belief and reality.

Later, they conducted a cognitive dissonance experiment with J.MerrillCarlsmith. They asked the subjects to do a boring job and told them that the purpose of the experiment was "Will the expectation of this job be interesting affect the later work efficiency?" These people belong to the "no expectation group". Let them tell the next subject that the experiment is interesting to form their expectations.

Some of these subjects received 1 USD, while others received $20. They were asked whether their jobs were interesting. What this study wants to know is whether the reward given afterwards will reduce the conflict between cognitive dissonance (a boring job but being asked to tell others that it is interesting) and thinking it is interesting.

The results of this study were unexpected. Among those who get $65,438 +0, more people think that work is interesting. According to the explanation, among those who get $20, they will think they have a reasonable excuse to lie because of $20; People who get 1 dollar can only change their minds and tell themselves that this job is interesting and reduce cognitive dissonance.

According to some of the above experimental results, he came to the conclusion that our cognitive system will do something to deal with the challenge of faith. In short, cognitive dissonance theory mainly explains that when two kinds of cognition (including ideas, attitudes, behaviors, etc. ) unable to reconcile with each other, individuals will feel psychological conflict, prompting them to give up or change one cognition and accommodate another cognition, thus restoring the state of reconciliation.

Festinger added new insights to the general theories and methods of social psychology and psychology with cognitive dissonance theory and its research, thus winning a reputation and winning the Outstanding Scientific Contribution Award of American Psychological Association (65438-0959). Festinger died of cancer in new york from 65438 to 0989.

Famous theory:

Festinger's contribution to psychology mainly comes from two research results of social psychology:

(1) socialcomparisontheory was put forward by Festinger in his paper On Social Comparison 1954, pointing out that individuals in a group have a psychological tendency to compare with others in order to determine their self-worth. Influenced by the social situation, individuals sometimes compare themselves with people with better conditions than themselves, and sometimes compare themselves with people with worse conditions to pursue self-worth.

(2) The theory of cognitive dissonance was put forward by Festinger in 1957. The basic essence of cognitive dissonance theory is that when individuals have to express their attitudes in the face of new situations, there will be psychological conflicts between new cognition (new understanding) and old cognition (old belief).

In order to eliminate the discomfort caused by this inconsistency, individuals tend to adopt two ways to carry out psychological adjustment. One is to deny new cognition; The other is to seek more information about new cognition and enhance the credibility of new cognition, so as to completely replace old cognition and achieve psychological balance. This theory is the main theory to explain the intrinsic motivation of individuals in nature, so it is widely used as an important basis to explain the changes of individual attitudes.