Leon Festinger (1919-1989)

Professional Life
Leon Festinger was born on May 8, 1919 in New York City. He graduated from Boys’ High School in New York, and earned his bachelor’s degree from the City College of New York. He went on to earn a Master’s in psychology in 1942 from the University of Iowa, after he attended classes led by Kurt Lewin, a psychologist who was studying the “field theory” of psychology. Festinger worked with Lewin, and after Lewin’s death, Festinger took a position as associate professor at the University of Michigan. He later moved to the University of Minnesota and held the position of Professor of Psychology. Festinger also taught at Stanford University and the New School for Social Research. He held positions at the University of Rochester, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and New York University.

Contribution to Psychology
Festinger is widely known for his Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, which states that psychological dysfunction and stress can be caused by an incongruence of behaviors and beliefs. Further, Festinger believed that people transform their belief systems to adapt to their behaviors, rather than changing their behaviors to adapt to their beliefs. Festinger surmises that it is easier for people to change their beliefs than to change behavior patterns. The theory states that people feel motivated to change the uncomfortable feeling created by having conflicting beliefs and behaviors and therefore they look to the easiest way to reduce those negative feelings, resulting in a change of beliefs. An example of cognitive dissonance is a smoker’s belief that they will not increase their health risks by smoking. Rather than changing their habitual behavior of smoking, they rationalize that they will not get sick because they are healthy in other ways, they do not smoke enough, or there is not enough evidence. They choose to change their belief rather than their behavior to reduce the uncomfortable emotions and feelings caused by the dissonance.

Festinger also developed the Social Comparison Theory which explores the motivation of groups to conform to one another and the comparative behaviors people engage in relating to their own accomplishments, desires, or values. Festinger also examined the theory of social networking and determined that people developed relationships and bonds with those in close physical proximity, not only because of shared interests or beliefs.