Thoughts Out Of Tune In 1959, Researchers Leon Festinger and James Carlsmith studied the cognitive consequences of forced compliance. After some careful thought the term cognitive dissonance was coined. Cognitive dissonance is the negative feeling that results from conflicting beliefs and behaviors. One will experience cognitive dissonance when having conflicting cognitions in one’s mind when delivering a speech that the person does not particularly believe to be true. Festinger hypothesizes that the less external factors that you have placed on your own inconsistent behavior, the more control you feel, there for the greater the dissonance. Method: 71 male psychology students participated in a study that required that the students emptied and refilled trays with spools for a half hour, and then turned pegs for a half hour. The experiment was intentionally designed to bore the students, and give all
participants a negative opinion. Festinger separated the students into three groups.
The plan was for Group A to lie to the other students, and state that they had the time of their lives. This group would receive $1 for their participation. Group B would do the same, but receive $20 as compensation. Group C was the control group, and was only to speak the truth, and received no compensation. Results: The results of the study were as follows: Group A (the $1 group) lied the most, Group B (the $20 group) lied the least, and the control group had an opinion that was somewhere in between. The results of the study lead Festinger to believe the following. “ 1. If a person is induced to do
or say something that is contrary to his private opinion, there will be a tendency for him to change his opinion to bring it into correspondence with what he has said or done.” “2. The larger the pressure used to elicit the overt behavior, the weaker will be the abovementioned tendency.” Implications: This study helped researchers understand that when you apply more pressure through a reward a participant is less likely to participate in a trial that he or she deems unfit for their personal beliefs.
The results of this study are still used today to help people analyze and bring awareness to their own risky behavior, and to eventually overcome the behavior.