Cognitive Dissonance Cognitive Dissonance is a theory of attitude change by Leon Festinger. (1957) He put forward the theory after observing a cult. (A cult is a group of people led by one person or a small group. The leader tells the cult members what to believe and how to live.)

Yes? The world ends on the 21st December, thank you for letting me know. Festinger observed the Doomsday Cult led by a housewife called Mrs Marion Keech in 1956. Marion Keech claimed that aliens from the planet Clarion revealed to her that the world would end in a great flood on December 21st 1956.

They invested a lot of time, money and effort into their beliefs The members of the cult gave up their jobs and sold their houses to be part of the cult. They invested a lot of time, money and effort into their beliefs

They believed they would be picked up by a flying saucer before the world was destroyed.

Woo Hoo! We saved the world with our faith! When midnight came on the 21st December the flying saucer did not turn up and the believers were stunned, but they did not doubt Mrs Keech. At 4am Marion Keech received a message from the aliens to say that the believers of the cult had saved the world because they had such great faith.

The believers were experiencing something called Cognitive Dissonance. Hmm, the flying saucer never showed up, the world did not end, but I’m sure Mrs Keech was right all along! Why do you think the believers did not doubt Mrs Keech even when the flying saucer did not turn up? The believers were experiencing something called Cognitive Dissonance.

Cognitive Dissonance means that there are 2 conflicting thoughts in the brain which cause us to feel uncomfortable.

Mrs Keech said the world will end = cognitive dissonance The world did not end + Reiterate that these are conflicting thoughts. = cognitive dissonance

When we experience cognitive dissonance we do one of three things to stop the dissonance in our thoughts: Go into denial. This is where we refuse to accept that the obvious is true. Add information. This is where we add some information to one of the two conflicting statements so that they are not conflicting anymore. Have an Attitude Change. This is where we change our opinion. This is the hardest thing to do because we hold our opinion and attitude to something for a reason.

1. Denial Mrs Keech said the world will end Here’s what the followers would think in each of the 3 situations The world did end. The flying saucer did show up 1. Denial Mrs Keech said the world will end Because the believers had invested so much time, money, energy and effort into the cult they could not accept that the cult was untrue, even when the flying saucer did not turn up. So, to make the 2 statements make sense they added information to the two statements and said “We saved the world with our faith.” This meant they did not experience cognitive dissonance anymore and could justify their actions. Remember, they had invested everything they owned into this cult, so they didn’t want to believe that what they had done was for nothing. If they had gone into denial they would have said “Mrs Keech is right” and refused to accept that the flying saucer had not turned up. If they had experienced an attitude change they would have had to accept that the cult was false and they had been fooled by Mrs Keech into selling everything they owned. = no cognitive dissonance Because these two thoughts are not conflicting. The person believes that the world did end and so Mrs Keech was right.

= no cognitive dissonance 2. Add Information The world did not end because we saved it with our faith Mrs Keech said the world will end Because the believers had invested so much time, money, energy and effort into the cult they could not accept that the cult was untrue, even when the flying saucer did not turn up. So, to make the 2 statements make sense they added information to the two statements and said “We saved the world with our faith.” This meant they did not experience cognitive dissonance anymore and could justify their actions. Remember, they had invested everything they owned into this cult, so they didn’t want to believe that what they had done was for nothing. If they had gone into denial they would have said “Mrs Keech is right” and refused to accept that the flying saucer had not turned up. If they had experienced an attitude change they would have had to accept that the cult was false and they had been fooled by Mrs Keech into selling everything they owned. = no cognitive dissonance Because these two thoughts are not conflicting. No the world did not end, but the believers added information that it was because of their faith.

3. Attitude Change Mrs Keech said the world will end Mrs Keech lied to us! I have been fooled. I am leaving the cult! Mrs Keech said the world will end = no cognitive dissonance Because these two thoughts are not conflicting. The person has realised the truth and changed their attitude towards Mrs Keech. Attitude change is the hardest of the three options for us to do. Why?