In 1959, psychologist Leon Festinger was studying cognitive dissonance;
a theory, which dictates, “Human beings
have a natural propensity to avoid psychological conflict based on
disharmonious or mutually exclusive beliefs.” Festinger proved his theory by conducting an
experiment, in which he asked participants to perform dull tasks, like turning
pegs on a doorknob, for an hour. Participants
were then paid either one dollar or twenty dollars for completing the task. It
was found that when participants were asked to explain to a “waiting participant”
how interesting the job was people who received $20 felt they had been
“sufficiently justified,” while those who were only paid $1 felt they had to
justify themselves and their time spent by making the task seem more
meaningful. This concluding that people commonly tell themselves lies to make
the world seem like a more logical and harmonious place.
I used Festinger's theory as the secondary source in my ISU essay, comparing The Book of Negroes and Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker. I found his theory very interesting, that we as humans feel the need to justify our actions not only to others but to ourselves.
I think this is a very interesting theory! Pretending to make the world seem more like a harmonious place actually makes it worse because the world would be filled with more lies, especially when it comes to dealing with money, a career, and marriage. If those are lies, it could ruin your life and yourself as a person, which is why it is important to speak the truth, listen to our conscience, and as mentioned before, justify our actions. I think that makes for a great secondary source Rachel!
ReplyDeleteWow, Rachel! I never knew about this theory, and I am grateful that you shared it with me. I know that both of your ISU novels include aspects of slavery. I think that this theory would incorporate well into your essay because slaves did valuable and difficult work for no pay. I can't wait to read it! Also, I wonder how many lies I have convinced myself of to be more satisfied.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't known about this theory before reading it here, and it sounds very interesting! I think it would be a great idea to incorporate this secondary source into a compare/contrast essay about slavery because it brings up the question of how slaves dealt with the psychological hardships and how much they had to lie to themselves in order to cope. The human mind is definitely very mysterious!
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