EXPLAIN FESTINGERS THEORY OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE AND EVALUATE THE EVIDENCE FOR AND AGAINST HIS FORMULATION OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE.

Published by Leon Festinger in 1957, A THEORY OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE has been one of the most influential and widely debated theories in social psychology (Jones 1985). It has spurred many studies that aim to better understand what determines an individuals beliefs, how they make decisions based on those beliefs, and what happens when those beliefs are brought into question.

Festingers theory deals with pairs of cognitions. These cognitions are defined as  any knowledge, opinion, or belief about an environment, about oneself, or about ones behaviour (Festinger, 1957, p.3). The pair can relate to each other in one of two ways. They may simply have nothing to do with each other….(short extract)