Clyde, Austin AP Psychology 20th Century Psychologist Smack-Down 8 September 2013 Born of a Russian immigrant in 1919, Leon Festinger

attended Boys High School in NYC. He entered the College of the City of New York getting his B.A in psychology in 1939. Then, studying child behavior under Kurt Lewin, he obtained his MA and PhD from University of Iowa in 1940 and 1942. When he chose to attend that university, it was based on Lewins early works on tension systems but when Festinger enrolled, the focus was on social psychology. Then, in 1943, Festinger began work at the University of Rochester as a statistician for the Committee on Selection and Training of Aircraft Pilots. Then, after working at MIT in 1945, he declares the years at M.I.T. seemed to us all to be momentous, ground breaking, the new beginning of something important. Now focusing on social psychology, he begins to work on his cognitive dissonance theory to be later published. After working at The University of Minnesota, in 1956, Festinger began work at the Stanford University where the undergraduate students of an introductory psychology class were used as subjected for his new study. In this major contribution to the field of psychology, he began to assert there is state of tension and distress when a person suffers conflicting beliefs and actions. In this study he took three groups (control, one dollar, and twenty dollar), and subjected them to long, boring, and monotonous tasks of turning placing 48 spools on a board and turning them. Then, the control group was questioned; they declared on a -5 to +5 scale how enjoyable the task was (-.45) and if they would partake in a similar experiment (-.62), and then the control group was dismissed. The subjects of the other two groups were told at the end of their spool

turning, the person who normally informs that subjects on what to do is absent and the interviewer would pay the subject either one dollar, or twenty, to tell the next set what the experiment involved and that they enjoyed ithaving fun turning spools. This should produce, what Festinger called, cognitive dissonance in the one dollar subjects. The incentive, one dollar, is not much of an incentive at all, therefore the subjects either have to change their action (not say they had fun), or change their belief (from not enjoying that boring task, to convincing themselves they enjoyed it), or otherwise be left in a state of tensionlying. The results then show the one dollar group when asked if they enjoyed the tasks, rated an average of +1.35, and if they would join again at +1.20. The twenty dollar group declared the pleasure at -.05, and if they would come back at -.25.This clearly shows since the twenty dollar group was offered enough of an incentive, they did not feel the need to convince themselves and felt little mental tensions (the convincing to lie was done by the money), while the one dollar group needed more since with only one dollar in the hand, it was not enough to convince themselves what they were doing was right; therefore they had change their mindset so they werent really lying. This is why the one dollar group bizarrely wanted to participate again and enjoyed it. In 1959, the study received wide attention and praise after appearing in the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. Also, not as evolutionary as cognitive dissonance theory, Festinger laid the groundwork for social comparison process. It is a term referring to the use of upwards comparison (comparing ourselves to those to we believe to be superior), and downwards comparison (comparing ourselves to those we believe to be inferior) to produce an accurate evaluation of ourselves in relation to those around uscomparison in a more dynamic sense versus a more static approach. Despite the fact Festingers theory did not see the mainstream light for three years is not indicative of its importance. This one theory can be found in several modern day practical

applications and even in modern day conservation. Sam Keene, author of The Disappearing Spoon, argues that the true sign of an important contribution to science is when the contribution is commonly referred to using lower case letters (in modern psychology cognitive dissonance is not referred to as The Cognitive Dissonance Theory). In the education field, not only is cognitive dissonance the basis for the constructivist model of learning, but also for the idea providing to little no incentive in the beginning for learning will lead to more proactive versus students like the twenty dollar group who have no internal struggle desire for boring work. Even in marketing, cognitive dissonance is important. For example, it is used to explain and manage post-purchase concerns. If a person struggles with a product purchase, a state of dissonance, they will likely not purchase that product again due to the negative feeling. Therefore this explains why companies must keep good customer support to literally support the buyer during and after the purchase to alter their beliefs to line up with their actions (the purchase). It is clear, by the truth and popularity of Leons theories, why he should remain a top psychological influence in the field.

Work Cited "Festinger, Leon." Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 8 Sep. 2013 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. Cherry, Kendra. "Leon Festinger Biography." About.com Psychology. Web. 08 Sept. 2013 Cherry, Kendra. "What Is Cognitive Dissonance?" About.com Psychology. Web. 08 Sept. 2013. Milite, George A.. "Festinger, Leon." Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 8 Sep. 2013 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. Wikipedia contributors. "Leon Festinger." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 13 Jul. 2013. Web. 8 Sep. 201