Psychology Dictionary of Arguments

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Method: a method is a procedure agreed on by participants of a discussion or research project. In the case of violations of a method, the comparability of the results is in particular questioned, since these no longer come from a set with uniformly defined properties of the elements.
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Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments.

 
Author Concept Summary/Quotes Sources

Leon Festinger on Method - Dictionary of Arguments

Haslam I 45
Method/Festinger: e.g. End of the World study (Festinger et al 1956)(1): after an unfulfilled doomsday prophecy, those who believed in it must reduce the dissonance between faith and reality, because they will experience this discrepancy as an unpleasant tension state. The Seekers [those who believed in the doomsday prophecy] would not only persist in their belief but would actually become more ardent than they had been previously. They would hold tenaciously to their conviction that their prophecy had been correct all along. Of course, they would not be able to maintain that the world had ended, but they could reaffirm their general belief pattern. Festinger et al. (1956)(1) tested this assumption in a real case of doomsday prophecy in 1955.
Problem: an (…) irony about [this study] is that its replicability is unclear. Our knowledge is compromised by not knowing about important parameters that may have facilitated the effect. See also Hardyck and Braden (1962)(2):
Haslam I 47
The group size may matter in relation to reducing strategies after a failed prophecy.
Haslam I 49
Method/Festinger and Carlsmith (1959(3): The method they created became the model for research for the next several decades. Its rigour and control were matched by its creativity. Indeed arguably, this study became as famous for its ingenious methodology as it did for the findings it produced.
A new attitude had to be created in the laboratory. They invented a task for students to perform and made sure that it would be perceived as truly dull and boring by anyone who performed it. That would constitute the attitude that participants would subsequently contradict by their verbal statements.
>Experiment/Festinger.
Haslam I 52
VsFestinger: attention. The fact that Festinger and his colleagues (1956)(1) not only reported it but used a theory to predict the outcome was duly noted. However, the study was not experimental, it did not control any of its variables, and (as later research showed) the relationship of proselytizing to dissonance reduction could certainly be debated.
In their subsequent study, Festinger and Carlsmith (1959)(3) not only showed support for dissonance theory in a tightly controlled experiment, but also they did so with experimental panache (a feature that would characterize dissonance research for a generation). Moreover, they took direct aim at the leading theoretical notion in all of psychology – the idea that reinforcement produces change.

1. Festinger, L., Riecken, H.W. and Schachter, S. (1956) When Prophecy Fails. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press
2. Hardyck, J.A. and Braden, M. (1962) ‘Prophecy fails again: A report of a failure to replicate’, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 65: 136–41.
3. Festinger, L. and Carlsmith, J.M. (1959) ‘Cognitive consequences of forced compliance’, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 58: 203–10.


Joel Cooper, “Cognitive Dissonance. Revisiting Festinger’s End of the World study”, in: Joanne R. Smith and S. Alexander Haslam (eds.) 2017. Social Psychology. Revisiting the Classic Studies. London: Sage Publications


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Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments
The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition.
Festinger, Leon
Haslam I
S. Alexander Haslam
Joanne R. Smith
Social Psychology. Revisiting the Classic Studies London 2017


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