ABSTRACT
Imagine a fearful person who cannot find an adequate cause for his fear. His knowledge, on the one hand, that he is fearful is quite inconsistent with his knowledge, on the other, that there is nothing to fear. Such an inconsistency in knowledge, according to Festinger (1957), gives rise to a psychological state which he called “cognitive dissonance.” Cognitive dissonance was defined as a motivational state that impells the individual to attempt to reduce and eliminate it. Because dissonance arises from inconsistent knowledge, it can be reduced by decreasing or eliminating the inconsistency. Thus, according to Festinger's analysis, a fearful person who could find nothing to fear is motivated by cognitive dissonance either to reduce his fear or to find some fear-provoking event. Accomplishment of either of these possibilities eliminates the state of cognitive dissonance.
