PSYCH 2C03 Lecture 26: Lecture 25 - Dissonance Theory (Nov 20)
11 Feb 2019
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Roots of dt: when prophecy fails: recall the doomsday cult field study (festinger et al. 1956: god was going to save the member when the world ended, experimenter joins the cult, alien and flood did not happen, what to do, quit cult; feel like an idiot, no, did not do that. Instead, stayed with cult; found a way to feel good about it: which did they choose, cult leader got a message from god, publicity seeking, more devotion, dissonance effect. I joined the cult in order to escape from a great flood, be saved by aliens, and then return to re-populate earth: the flood and aliens never came. I am an idiot (dissonance: dissonance reduction - distortion of most distortable thing. I went through a very embarrassing initiation to get into it (dissonance: distortion of the discussion to reduce dissonance (easiest option, mild initiation group no distortion, that discussion was very boring.
