Leon Festinger

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Leon Festinger bigraphy, stories - Psychologists

Leon Festinger : biography

May 8, 1919 – February 11, 1989

Leon Festinger (8 May 1919 – 11 February 1989) was an American social psychologist, perhaps best known for cognitive dissonance and social comparison theory. His theories and research are credited with repudiating the previously dominant behaviorist view of social psychology by demonstrating the inadequacy of stimulus-response conditioning accounts of human behavior.Zukier, 1989, p. xv Festinger is also credited with advancing the use of laboratory experimentation in social psychology,Zukier, 1991, p. xiv although he simultaneously stressed the importance of studying real-life situations,Festinger, 1953, pp. 169–170. a principle he perhaps most famously practiced when personally infiltrating a doomsday cult. He is also known in social network theory for the proximity effect (or propinquity).Festinger, Schachter, & Back, 1950

Festinger studied psychology under Kurt Lewin, an important figure in modern social psychology, at the University of Iowa, graduating in 1941.American, 1959, p. 784 However, he did not develop an interest in social psychology until after joining the faculty at Lewin’s Research Center for Group Dynamics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1945.Festinger, 1980, p. 237 Despite his preeminence in social psychology, Festinger turned to visual perception research in 1964 and then archaeology and history in 1979 until his death in 1989.Aronson, 1991, p. 216

Life

Early life and education

Festinger was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 8, 1919 to Russian-Jewish immigrants Alex Festinger and Sara Solomon Festinger. His father, an embroidery manufacturer, had "left Russia a radical and atheist and remained faithful to these views throughout his life."Schachter, 1994, p. 99 Festinger attended Boys’ High School in Brooklyn, and received his BS degree in psychology from the City College of New York in 1939.Schacter, 1994, p. 100

He proceeded to study under Kurt Lewin at the University of Iowa, where Festinger received his MA in 1940 and PhD in 1942 in the field of child behavior.American, 1959, p. 784 By his own admission, he was not interested in social psychology when he arrived at Iowa, and did not take a single course in social psychology during his entire time there; instead, he was interested in Lewin’s earlier work on tension systems, but Lewin’s focus had shifted to social psychology by the time Festinger arrived at Iowa.Festinger, 1980, p. 237 However, Festinger continued to pursue his original interests, studying level of aspiration,Festinger, 1942 working on statistics,Festinger, 1943aFestinger, 1943b developing a quantitative model of decision making,Carlsmith & Festinger, 1943 and even publishing a laboratory study on rats.Festinger, 1943c Explaining his lack of interest in social psychology at the time, Festinger stated, "The looser methodology of the social psychology studies, and the vagueness of relation of the data to Lewinian concepts and theories, all seemed unappealing to me in my youthful penchant for rigor."Festinger, 1980, p. 237

After graduating, Festinger worked as a research associate at Iowa from 1941 to 1943, and then as a statistician for the Committee on Selection and Training of Aircraft Pilots at the University of Rochester from 1943 to 1945 during World War II. In 1943, Festinger married Mary Oliver Ballou, a pianist,"Deaths: Mary Ballou Festinger," 2006 with whom he had three children, Catherine, Richard, and Kurt.Schachter & Gazzaniga, 1989, p. 545 Festinger and Ballou were later divorced, and Festinger married Trudy Bradley, currently a professor of social work at New York University,Faculty Profile, n.d. in 1968.Schachter & Gazzaniga, 1989, p. 545

Career

In 1945, Festinger joined Lewin’s newly formed Research Center for Group Dynamics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an assistant professor. It was at MIT that Festinger, in his own words, "became, by fiat, a social psychologist, and immersed myself in the field with all its difficulties, vaguenesses, and challenges."Festinger, 1980, p. 237 It was also at MIT that Festinger began his foray into social communication and pressures in groups that marked a turning point in his own research. As Festinger himself recalls, "the years at M.I.T. [sic] seemed to us all to be momentous, ground breaking, the new beginning of something important."Festinger, 1980, pp. 237–238 Indeed, Stanley Schachter, Festinger’s student and research assistant at the time, states, "I was lucky enough to work with Festinger at this time, and I think of it as one of the high points of my scientific life."Schachter, 1994, p. 102