Leon Festinger — The Psychologist Behind Cognitive Dissonance

Leon Festinger’s the­ory on cog­nit­ive dis­son­ance is import­ant in PR.

Festinger’s the­or­ies con­tin­ue to be a cent­ral part of psy­cho­logy cur­ricula world­wide, and his work is fre­quently cited in new research stud­ies, demon­strat­ing the last­ing impact of his con­tri­bu­tions to the field.

His the­or­ies are espe­cially inter­est­ing for pub­lic rela­tions.
But who was he?

Here we go:

Leon Festinger (1919 – 1989)

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Leon Festinger (1919 – 1989)

Who was Leon Festinger?

Festinger was a prom­in­ent American social psy­cho­lo­gist and research­er, most fam­ous for devel­op­ing the the­ory of cog­nit­ive dis­son­ance in the late 1950s. Born on May 8, 1919, and passing away on February 11, 1989, Festinger made sig­ni­fic­ant con­tri­bu­tions to the field of social psy­cho­logy, leav­ing a last­ing impact through his innov­at­ive the­or­ies and research.

Festinger’s most not­able con­tri­bu­tion to psy­cho­logy, the the­ory of cog­nit­ive dis­son­ance, revo­lu­tion­ized the under­stand­ing of human beha­viour and motiv­a­tion. This the­ory pro­poses that people exper­i­ence psy­cho­lo­gic­al dis­com­fort, known as cog­nit­ive dis­son­ance when they hold con­tra­dict­ory beliefs, atti­tudes, or beha­viours. To alle­vi­ate this dis­com­fort, indi­vidu­als are motiv­ated to change their beliefs, atti­tudes, or beha­viours to achieve consistency.

“Cognitive Dissonance is a real phe­nomen­on that leads to irra­tion­al actions like con­firm­a­tion bias and caus­al self jus­ti­fic­a­tions, as indi­vidu­als seek to reduce the incon­sist­ency between their beliefs and actions.”
Source: Perspectives on Psychological Science ¹Boek, D. (2011). Cognitive Dissonance. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6, 101 — 98. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​1​7​7​/​1​7​4​5​6​9​1​6​1​0​3​9​3​526

Beyond cog­nit­ive dis­son­ance, Festinger con­trib­uted sig­ni­fic­antly to social com­par­is­on the­ory and the study of social influ­ence and group dynam­ics. His social com­par­is­on the­ory sug­gests that people eval­u­ate their abil­it­ies and opin­ions by com­par­ing them­selves to oth­ers, espe­cially when object­ive bench­marks are unavailable.

Festinger’s work exten­ded to vari­ous oth­er areas, includ­ing research on the effects of group pres­sure on indi­vidu­al judg­ment, the determ­in­ants of beha­viour in social situ­ations, and the psy­cho­lo­gic­al under­pin­nings of pro­pa­ganda. His research meth­ods and the­or­et­ic­al frame­works con­tin­ue to influ­ence con­tem­por­ary psy­cho­logy, mak­ing him one of the key fig­ures in the his­tory of social psychology.

Learn more: Leon Festinger — The Psychologist Behind Cognitive Dissonance

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Famous Theory: Cognitive Dissonance

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Cognitive Dissonance

The the­ory of cog­nit­ive dis­son­ance, for­mu­lated by American social psy­cho­lo­gist Leon Festinger in the late 1950s, is a corner­stone concept in the field of psy­cho­logy, par­tic­u­larly in under­stand­ing human motiv­a­tion and behaviour. 

“Cognitive dis­son­ance is a dis­tress­ing men­tal state in which people feel they are act­ing or hold­ing opin­ions that do not fit with their know­ledge or beliefs.”
Source: Handbook of Theories of Social Psychology ²Cooper, J. (2012). Cognitive dis­son­ance the­ory. Handbook of Theories of Social Psychology: Volume 1, 377 – 397. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​4​1​3​5​/​9​7​8​1​4​4​6​2​4​9​2​1​5​.​N19

The cog­nit­ive dis­son­ance the­ory pos­its that indi­vidu­als nat­ur­ally seek con­sist­ency among their cog­ni­tions (i.e., beliefs, opin­ions, and know­ledge). An incon­sist­ency between atti­tudes or beha­viours (dis­son­ance) cre­ates a state of psy­cho­lo­gic­al dis­com­fort, lead­ing the indi­vidu­al to attempt to reduce the dis­son­ance and achieve con­son­ance (con­sist­ency).

“Emotions play a cru­cial role in main­tain­ing and chan­ging beliefs and atti­tudes, with cog­nit­ive dis­son­ance the­ory sug­gest­ing that neg­at­ive emo­tions can motiv­ate cog­nit­ive work to reduce cog­nit­ive incon­sist­en­cies.”
Source: Cambridge University Press ³Harmon-Jones, E. (2000). A cog­nit­ive dis­son­ance the­ory per­spect­ive on the role of emo­tion in the main­ten­ance and change of beliefs and atti­tudes. Cambridge University Press, 185 – 211. … Continue read­ing

Cognitive dis­son­ance can occur in vari­ous situ­ations, such as when a per­son’s beha­viour con­flicts with their self-image, new inform­a­tion con­tra­dicts deeply held beliefs, or when a decision con­flicts with altern­at­ive choices. 

Examples of irra­tion­al beha­viours when exper­i­en­cing dis­com­fort caused by dissonance:

• Change the belief.
• Justify the beha­viour by chan­ging the con­flict­ing cognition. 
• Trivialize the inconsistency.
• Seek new inform­a­tion that sup­ports the exist­ing belief or behaviour. 

The the­ory of cog­nit­ive dis­son­ance has been widely influ­en­tial in psy­cho­logy and fields like mar­ket­ing, pub­lic rela­tions, and decision-mak­ing stud­ies. It has helped explain vari­ous beha­viours, from small-scale per­son­al decisions to large-scale social and polit­ic­al attitudes.

“Dissonance the­ory has regained pop­ular­ity in social psy­cho­logy, blend­ing cog­ni­tion and motiv­a­tion in a way that has­n’t been seen since the mid-1970s.”
Source: Psychological Inquiry ⁴Aronson, E. (1992). The Return of the Repressed: Dissonance Theory Makes a Comeback. Psychological Inquiry, 3, 303 – 311. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​2​0​7​/​S​1​5​3​2​7​9​6​5​P​L​I​0​3​0​4_1

Learn more: Cognitive Dissonance: Mental Harmony Above All Else

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Who Was Leon Festinger?

Festinger ini­tially stud­ied psy­cho­logy at the City College of New York. Still, he trans­ferred to the University of Iowa, where he stud­ied under Kurt Lewin, a sig­ni­fic­ant fig­ure in social psy­cho­logy. This ment­or­ship pro­foundly influ­enced his future work. ⁵Over his career, Festinger held aca­dem­ic pos­i­tions at sev­er­al pres­ti­gi­ous insti­tu­tions, includ­ing Stanford University, the University of Michigan, and The New School for Social Research in New York. … Continue read­ing

Before fully devel­op­ing his the­ory of cog­nit­ive dis­son­ance, Festinger worked on sev­er­al oth­er pro­jects. He was involved in research on the visu­al per­cep­tion of motion, con­trib­ut­ing to the field of Gestalt psy­cho­logy. Festinger fre­quently col­lab­or­ated with oth­er not­able psy­cho­lo­gists, such as Stanley Schachter and Henry Riecken. This col­lab­or­at­ive work often led to sig­ni­fic­ant devel­op­ments in social psychology.

Festinger was known for his innov­at­ive research meth­ods. He used vari­ous exper­i­ment­al tech­niques, includ­ing what is now known as “par­ti­cipant obser­va­tion.” In one fam­ous study, he infilt­rated a dooms­day cult to observe and under­stand the effects of dis­con­firmed beliefs. ⁶When Prophecy Fails. (2023, October 28). In Wikipedia. https://​en​.wiki​pe​dia​.org/​w​i​k​i​/​W​h​e​n​_​P​r​o​p​h​e​c​y​_​F​a​ils

In the later stages of his career, Festinger’s interests shif­ted towards the visu­al sys­tem and the per­cep­tion of col­our, which marked a sig­ni­fic­ant depar­ture from his earli­er focus on social psychology.

PR Resource: Logical Fallacies and Biases

List of Logical Fallacies and Biases

We eas­ily fall prey to the tricks our psy­cho­logy plays on us. These “think­ing errors” exist because they’ve often aided our sur­viv­al. However, know­ing and under­stand­ing vari­ous types of com­mon fal­la­cies and biases is help­ful in every­day life.

Here are a few examples of logic­al fal­la­cies and biases that I’ve come across while study­ing pub­lic rela­tions and linguistics:

Learn more: 58 Logical Fallacies and Biases