Running head: LEON FESTINGER, FATHER OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE 1

A Discordant Journey Through the Life of Leon Festinger, Father of Cognitive Dissonance

Holly Braithwaite

Gonzaga University
LEON FESTINGER, FATHER OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE 2

A Discordant Journey Through the Life of Leon Festinger, Father of Cognitive Dissonance

Social psychology would not be what it is today without the influence of Leon Festinger,

a social scientist heralded as the father of cognitive dissonance. American Psychologist describes

Festinger as influential as Dostoevski to literature and celebrated as experimental social

psychologys Picasso (Zajonc, 1990). Festingers methods of studying social situations are seen

as high art and his research as products of rare beauty (Zajonc, 1990) as he eventually

became one of psychologys greatest theorists. Because of the comparison between Festingers

research and high art, his life is best viewed through the structure of dissonant operatic works by

Arnold Schnberg a composer who, like Festinger, rose to greatness in the mid-1900s.

Schnberg was father of the 12-tone music system, a mathematical composition formula

requiring use of all 12 pitches of the chromatic scale before cycling back for reuse (Tommasini,

2007). Like Festingers work, Schnbergs methodology found the beauty in dissonance

(McPherson, 2017) by disrupting the standard of his day and influencing the future.

Before moving on to the profile, it is important to understand the format in which it is

written: mimicking the 12-tone music structure by examining Leon Festingers life in 12 parts.

Examining Festinger in this way commemorates his life and influence, and illustrates his

contributions as elegance. This profile could seem disjointed, another tribute to the conflict

between belief and reality. Going forward, Festinger will be referred to as Leon, the name by

which his colleagues and friends commonly addressed him (Zajonc, 1990).

A look at someones life most often starts at birth and ends at death. Instead, we will start

at Leons death and move forward through his life and research on cognitive dissonance, the

theory that suggests people are made uncomfortable by the conflict between their actions and

beliefs (Leon fest Inger biography.). A smoker himself (Camels (Gazzaniga, 2006) were his
LEON FESTINGER, FATHER OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE 3

cigarette of choice), Leons prime example of cognitive dissonance is that of a smoker who

knows it is bad for their health but reduces internal conflict by justifying the act (e.g. its not as

bad as they claim or my uncle smoked and lived until he was 84) (Festinger, 1957). In 1988,

Leon was diagnosed with liver and lung cancer, choosing to deal with the disease as a research

problem, becoming bedridden, and finally too sick to continue his work (Schachter, 1994). A

game player and joker (Gazzaniga, 2006) Leon Festinger died of liver cancerquietlyin his

hometown on February 11, 1989, saying, Make sure everyone knows that it wasnt lung

cancer! (Zajonc, 1990). Life imitates art.

A born American citizen, there is little information about Leons parents: mother Sara

and father Alex, a radical and atheist who escaped Russia prior to World War One. After

graduating Boys High School and City College in New York, Leon first made a name for

himself during his graduate studies in psychology at the University of Iowa. Working under

theorist and mentor Kurt Lewin, Leon learned the building blocks of connections between

perception, motivation, and cognition and began exploring problems of consuming human

interest (Schachter, 1994). Leons lifelong best friend Stanley Schachter later revealed that it

was Leon, not Kurt Lewin, who would make the lasting impression on social psychology

(Schachter, 1994).

Group dynamics did not pique Leons interest in the same way they did for Lewin; Leon

searched for group influences over interactions. Before his seminal work on cognitive

dissonance, Leon spent his early career at the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the

University of Michigan where he conducted the tour de force of experiments (Schachter,

1994). In Informal Social Communication, Leon surveyed students living together at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology and concluding that a major source of forces to

LEON FESTINGER, FATHER OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE 4

communicate is the pressure toward uniformity, which [exists] within a group (Festinger, 1950).

Leon concluded that pressures like influence, structure, and proximity influenced an individuals

social communication, establishing ones beliefs that align with the collective (Schachter, 1994).

This theory served as the foundation on which Leon and his collaborators built their book When

Prophecy Fails, a work became a landmark in psychologys history (Bell & Matthews, 2011).

Group beliefs are very powerful when the members influence each other, fortifying the

common belief, and feeling more spiritually enriched as a result (Bell & Matthews, 2011).

Leons When Prophecy Fails explored association with those who have similar beliefs and why

we react in one of three ways when faced with a situation: 1) We make the factors that do not

agree with our beliefs less important. 2) We look for ways to add more facts to support our

beliefs. 3) We change one of the dissonant beliefs or situations (Carol Miller, 2013). In 1956,

Leon detailed the reaction of a doomsday cult, The Seekers, who believed that on December 21,

1954, a giant flood would wipe out the West Coast in an epic apocalypse. The Seekers, led by a

woman named Dorothy Martin, believed they would be not only spared from mass destruction

but also aliens in a flying saucer would rescue them. To further his theory, Leon infiltrated The

Seekers to learn how a group reacts when their beliefs do not come to fruition (Pappas, 20, Live

Science Contributor | May, & ET,). Leon discovered, as the appointed time passed with no alien

visitors, the group sat stunned. But a few hours before dawn, [Dorothy] Martin suddenly

received a new prophecy, stating that The Seekers had been so devout that God had called off the

apocalypse(Pappas et al.,). The Seekers change in mindset became ground for Leons theory: to

alleviate dissonance between belief and reality, belief is altered with new reality to right the

brains wrong. Simply, when incompatibilities exist pressures will arise to reduce the

discrepancy (Schachter, 1994).

LEON FESTINGER, FATHER OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE 5

Fortunately, a grant from the Ford Foundation in 1957 allowed Leon (and his team) to

study medias influence on social communication. Thus, cognitive dissonance theory earned its

name. The group analyzed a report about an earthquake in 1930s India and how afterward, the

people there predicted an even worse earthquake was coming, creating more (unnecessary)

anxiety (Gazzaniga, 2006). Leon concluded this was a coping mechanism that the Indian people

had developed to deal with their present anxiety they formulated an even greater future

tragedy, in comparison with which the present state of things did not look so bad (Gazzaniga,

2006). Extensive animal experimentation and data collection led to Stanford University

publishing Leons Psychological Effects of Insufficient Rewards concluding, with his own dry

wit, I sometimes like to summarize all this by saying that rats and people come to love things

for which they have suffered (Festinger, 1961).

Experimentation (and tongue-in-cheek humor) aside, Psychological Effects of Insufficient

Rewards melded facts with insight, described how forces affect psychological space, and forever

defined how we view social psychology. Like Dostoevski and like Picasso, Festinger set in

motion a style of research and theory in the social sciences that is now the common property of

all creative workers in the field (Zajonc, 1990).

Even better, Leon became recognized as the name associated with social psychology.

From Leons election to the American Psychological Association where he received the

Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award to an induction in the National Academy of

Sciences, he became synonymous with his ingenious and unique ways of creating in the

laboratory, powerful social situations that [make] big differences (Zajonc, 1990). After

numerous accolades, Leon moved on to new fields of researchbecause he was bored. The
LEON FESTINGER, FATHER OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE 6

moment things got dull or he found that he was repeating himself, doing some trivial variation of

a spent idea, he changed his interests (Schachter, 1994).

Decades later, roughly 20 years after Leons rise to fame with The Seekers, he closed his

laboratory and abandoned experimental psychology altogether (Schachter, 1994). Leons first

foray outside the laboratory explored archaeology and paleontology, connecting primitive

society with archeological evidence (Schachter, 1994). In Lunch with Leon, friend and colleague

Michael Gazzaniga mused that Leons new intellectual discipline was not new; avoiding

monotony meant reading in his spare time. Leon became other scientists Rosetta stone

through his unique ability to crystallize information in ways his colleagues could understand, in

[their] own language (Gazzaniga, 2006).

Discovery beyond cognitive dissonance with research in ancient cultures and religious

history became Leons passion. Leon became fascinated with how, over time, culture imprints

itself onto humankind and felt that understanding this sort of phenomenon held greater potential

relevance to humankinds current problems (Gazzaniga, 2006). Leons talent for creative

science culminated in a number of unpublished manuscripts that never saw the light of day.

Not one for sloppy study, Leon believed incorrectly judging relevance is a costly mistake

(Gazzaniga, 2006).

Cancer was Leons diagnosisa lung tumor that metastasized on his liver eventually

ending his life; though his doctors wanted to operate, he knew the odds of survival were against

him. Leon researched himself concluding, he was doomed (Gazzaniga, 2006).

Before his death, Leons cancer became the ultimate research problem where he

learned all he could, considered treatments, and weighed possible side effects. In his final days

he worked, he wrote he saw his friends, and, when it became clear that he could no longer go
LEON FESTINGER, FATHER OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE 7

on, he died (Schachter, 1994). (Irony is not lost on the inconclusive research with his own

demise.)

Brooklyn born, Leons life also ended in New York where his memorial was more a

celebration. Leons friend Stanley Schacter recounts the event brought together Virtually all of

his old students and many of his former colleagues and collaborators from all over the

country more proof of Leons ability to create connections, for Leon Festinger was one of

the most important psychologists of our time (Schachter, 1994).

And now we cycle back to this profiles beginning after Festingers astonishing

intellectual career that influenced how we view society today. Though his medium of choice

was mental detachment, Festinger created connections out of connecting people; summed up in a

memoir as, The psychological world is a different place because he lived (Schachter, 1994).
LEON FESTINGER, FATHER OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE 8

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Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonence. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Festinger, L. (1961). The psychological effects of insufficient rewards. American Psychologist,

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Gazzaniga, M. S. (2006). Leon festinger. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1(1), 88.

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psychologists/leon-festinger.html

Pappas, S., 20, Live Science Contributor | May & ET, 2. 0.When doomsday isn't, believers

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fail.html

Schachter, S. (1994). Leon festinger - may 8, 1919-february 11, 1989. Biographical

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Tommasini, A. (2007, -10-14). Arnold schoenberg - the 12-tone system - music. The New York

Times Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/arts/music/14tomm.html

Zajonc, R. B. (1990). Obituary: Leon festinger (19191989). American Psychologist, 45(5), 661-

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