ABSTRACT
Cognitive dissonance theory has already been reviewed by J. S. Bruner, S. E. Asch, C. E. Osgood, and R. B. Zajonc. There is an engaging simplicity about L. Festinger dissonance formulations. This chapter concerns a review of experiments on cognitive dissonance in humans from two points of view. It considers whether an experimenter really did what he said he did. The chapter also considers whether the experimenter really got the results he said he did. The Festinger group is primarily concerned with applying their dissonance formulation to predict complex social events. The difference obtained between the two groups could then be simply the result of the difference in reward rates, and the lack of change in the high-effort group, the result of their low reward rate. E. Aronson explains the lack of change in the high-effort condition by saying that the effects of dissonance and secondary reinforcement are equal but opposite in direction, and so cancel each other.
