Cognitive Consistency

This volume provides an overview of recent research on the nature, causes, and consequences of cognitive consistency. In 21 chapters, leading scholars address the pivotal role of consistency principles at various levels of social information processing, ranging from micro-level to macro-level processes. The book's scope encompasses mental representation, processing fluency and motivational fit, implicit social cognition, thinking and reasoning, decision making and choice, and interpersonal processes. Key findings, emerging themes, and current directions in the field are explored, and important questions for future research identified.

Cognitive Consistency: Motivational Antecedents and Behavioral presents the behavioral implications of the motivation for consistency. This book discusses the relationship between assumptions and motivation for consistency. Organized into nine chapters, this book begins with an overview of the area of study, empirical problems, and theoretical issues. This text then examines the nature of the motivation for consistency. Other chapters consider the effects of the formal aspects of cognitions. This book discusses as well the behavioral implications of consistency-seeking and the development of theories of cognitive consistency. The final chapter deals with the extent to which the motivation for consistency is based upon cognitive or social consideration. This book is a valuable resource for readers who are interested in attitude formation and change, in particular, and those interested in social psychology and communications, in general. Psychologists, communications specialists, researchers, and theorists working in the scope of the consistency theories will also find this book useful.

Originally published: Evanston, Ill.: Row, Peterson, c1957.

Leon Festinger’s 1957 A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance is a key text in the history of psychology – one that made its author one of the most influential social psychologists of his time. It is also a prime example of how creative thinking and problem solving skills can come together to produce work that changes the way people look at questions for good. Strong creative thinkers are able to look at things from a new perspective, often to the point of challenging the very frames in which those around them see things. Festinger was such a creative thinker, leading what came to be known as the “cognitive revolution” in social psychology. When Festinger was carrying out his research, the dominant school of thought – behaviorism – focused on outward behaviors and their effects. Festinger, however, turned his attention elsewhere, looking at “cognition:” the mental processes behind behaviors. In the case of “cognitive dissonance”, for example, he hypothesized that apparently incomprehensible or illogical behaviors might be caused by a cognitive drive away from dissonance, or internal contradiction. This perspective, however, raised a problem: how to examine and test out cognitive processes. Festinger’s book records the results of the psychological experiments he designed to solve that problem. The results helped prove the existence for what is now a fundamental theory in social psychology.

This volume provides an overview of recent research on the nature, causes, and consequences of cognitive consistency. In 21 chapters, leading scholars address the pivotal role of consistency principles at various levels of social information processing, ranging from micro-level to macro-level processes. The book's scope encompasses mental representation, processing fluency and motivational fit, implicit social cognition, thinking and reasoning, decision making and choice, and interpersonal processes. Key findings, emerging themes, and current directions in the field are explored, and important questions for future research identified.

Published in 1976, Perspectives on Cognitive Dissonance is a valuable contribution to the field of Social Psychology.

This handbook for social psychologists has been updated to reflect changes in the field since its original publication. New topics include emotions, self, and automaticity, and it is structured to show the levels of analysis used by psychologists.