Leon Festinger (8 May 1919 – 11 February 1989) was an American social psychologist who originated the theory of cognitive dissonance and social comparison theory. The rejection of the previously dominant behaviorist view of social psychology by demonstrating the inadequacy of stimulus-response conditioning accounts of human behavior is largely attributed to his theories and research.[1] Festinger is also credited with advancing the use of laboratory experimentation in social psychology,[2] although he simultaneously stressed the importance of studying real-life situations,[3] a principle he practiced when personally infiltrating a doomsday cult. He is also known in social network theory for the proximity effect (or propinquity).[4]
Festinger studied psychology under Kurt Lewin, an important figure in modern social psychology, at the University of Iowa, graduating in 1941;[5] however, he did not develop an interest in social psychology until after joining the faculty at Lewin's Research Center for Group Dynamics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1945.[6] Despite his preeminence in social psychology, Festinger turned to visual perception research in 1964 and then archaeology, history, and the human evolutionary sciences in 1979 until his death in 1989.[7] Following B. F. Skinner, Jean Piaget, Sigmund Freud, and Albert Bandura, Festinger was the fifth most cited psychologist of the 20th century.[8]
^Zukier, 1989, p. xv
^Zukier, 1991, p. xiv
^Festinger, 1953, pp. 169–170.
^Festinger, Schachter, & Back, 1950
^American, 1959, p. 784
^Festinger, 1980, p. 237
^Aronson, 1991, p. 216
^Haggbloom, Steven J.; Warnick, Renee; Warnick, Jason E.; Jones, Vinessa K.; Yarbrough, Gary L.; Russell, Tenea M.; Borecky, Chris M.; McGahhey, Reagan; Powell, John L. III; Beavers, Jamie; Monte, Emmanuelle (2002). "The 100 most eminent psychologists of the 20th century". Review of General Psychology. 6 (2): 139–152. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.586.1913. doi:10.1037/1089-2680.6.2.139. S2CID 145668721.
LeonFestinger (8 May 1919 – 11 February 1989) was an American social psychologist who originated the theory of cognitive dissonance and social comparison...
Destruction of the World (1956) and A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (1957), LeonFestinger proposed that human beings strive for internal psychological consistency...
Social comparison theory, initially proposed by social psychologist LeonFestinger in 1954, centers on the belief that individuals drive to gain accurate...
of Conversion, Proselytization, and Maintenance of Faith. In 1958, LeonFestinger published a study of a group with cataclysmic predictions: When Prophecy...
Destruction of the World is a classic work of social psychology by LeonFestinger, Henry Riecken, and Stanley Schachter, published in 1956, detailing...
Festinger is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: Richard Festinger (born 1948), American composer LeonFestinger (1919–1989), American...
Singer and Robert Lifton as well as the cognitive dissonance theory of LeonFestinger. Hassan published a revised edition in 2015 which updated information...
doctoral advisor and mentor was the experimental social psychologist LeonFestinger. Aronson has taught at Harvard University, the University of Minnesota...
altering an individual's attitude through persuasion and authority. LeonFestinger and James M. Carlsmith (1959) conducted an experiment entitled "Cognitive...
close to each other will be more likely to develop a relationship. LeonFestinger also illustrates the proximity principle and propinquity (the state...
who have a high propinquity. It was first theorized by psychologists LeonFestinger, Stanley Schachter, and Kurt Back in what came to be called the Westgate...
Social comparison theory, initially proposed by social psychologist LeonFestinger in 1954, centers on the belief that there is a drive within individuals...
present-day Poland. Prominent psychologists mentored by Lewin included LeonFestinger (1919–1989), who became known for his cognitive dissonance theory (1956)...
psychological phenomenon of cognitive dissonance. The theory was proposed by LeonFestinger to describe the formation of new beliefs and increased proselytizing...
doctoral student, LeonFestinger, took over as Schachter's supervisor, and the pair became very close lifelong friends. When Festinger moved to the University...
is distinguished from the type of cognitive dissonance proposed by LeonFestinger, which can be referred to as personal cognitive dissonance, because...
attempt to bring it about. In the 1950s, American social psychologist LeonFestinger and his colleagues observed members of a small UFO religion called the...
American social psychologist perhaps best known for his collaboration with LeonFestinger and Elliot Aronson in the creation and development of cognitive dissonance...
scholars. Among the earliest was the 1956 study, When Prophecy Fails by LeonFestinger, Henry Riecken, and Stanley Schachter, which analyzed the phenomenon...
dominance (see "Explanations" above). As an example, a famous study by LeonFestinger and colleagues investigated critical factors in predicting friendship...
the more someone will value it. This phenomenon had been observed by LeonFestinger (1957) and in realms ranging from psychotherapy (Axsom & Cooper, 1985)...
Bruner Donald T. Campbell Hans Eysenck Herbert A. Simon David McClelland LeonFestinger George A. Miller Richard Lazarus Stanley Schachter Robert Zajonc Albert...
satisfactorily completes particular activities. American social psychologist LeonFestinger found that self-confidence in an individual's ability may only rise...
situations outside their control. LeonFestinger was an American social psychologist who coined the term deindividuation. Festinger and colleagues suggested that...
Hans Eysenck Norman Farberow Gustav Fechner, founder of psychophysics LeonFestinger, cognitive dissonance Cordelia Fine Susan Fiske Edna B. Foa Donata Francescato...
Psychology. 35 (2): 63–78. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.35.2.63. S2CID 16756658. Festinger, Leon (1954). "A theory of social comparison process". Human Relations. 7...
proposed self-perception theory of attitude change, competitor to LeonFestinger's cognitive dissonance theory Ellen S. Berscheid Michael Billig Hart...
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