ABSTRACT
Leon Festinger, the author of A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1919. He conducted his graduate studies at the University of Iowa, then home to the founder of social psychology, Kurt Lewin. Lewin became the primary mentor to Festinger, influencing his later research. Festinger uses smoking as an example of dissonant behaviors, noting, "A person may know that smoking is bad for him and yet continue to smoke". This inconsistency, Festinger argues, shows that people are driven to change. In making the study of cognition a focal point, it challenged the principles of behaviorism. For instance, it was unclear from the text whether people experiencing cognitive dissonance did in fact feel psychological discomfort. A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance describes one of the most widespread phenomena that social psychologists have ever examined: cognitive dissonance. Festinger argued that dissonance is possible after nearly every decision where multiple options are possible.
