Talk:Cognitive dissonance

I agree that Linux/MS products isn't a good example and would not necessarily appear in a text book.

I've included a "cognitive dissonance in the brain" section, which might be interesting to some readers. Additions/comments are welcome. --Efb18 5:58, 16 Dec 2009

I've corrected a few minor errors in the references section, and included links to urls for a number of peer-reviewed articles. I've also applied APA style where necessary. Corrections are welcome. --Efb18 3:43, 10 Jan 2010

The college student who edited this page for his psychology course, user Cranein, is a moron (or is it Mormon? Someone correct my spelling) and writes like he's in the 7th grade. It looks like he vandalised this and several other pages with the knowledge (and consent?) of user Ian, a 'Wikipedia Expert.' How is this acceptable? Is this really how wikipedia works?

Anyway, most of his garbage has been taken out, but someone ought to remove the travesty that is the "Contradictions to the theory" section. And maybe require prospective editors to pass some sort of English test. Thanks, that's all.

I'm adding this note in case anyone has any question regarding the deletion of an entire section. Seeing the citation needed tags I searched Google Scholar for "Anticipatory cognitive dissonance" (with quotes) and got nothing, the same in my university's library catalog.

I also did a plain Google search with no results for the entire phrase, except this article and some that reference it. WriterArtistDC (talk) 19:20, 14 April 2025 (UTC)

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 18 August 2025 and 10 December 2025. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Oblongzooble (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Kfase (talk) 22:06, 17 September 2025 (UTC)

Hello! I am a student editor for an Advanced Communication Theory class for this semester. I am wondering if there are any specific change requests for this article, before I begin analyzing and adding or removing content and sources? I've read through the previous talk pages and I can reassure you that I will not be making the same reported mistakes as the student from 2019, though my advisor is still Ian (a Wikipedia Expert). Thank you!Oblongzooble (talk) 16:07, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

You could check out this recently published article and incorporate its findings into the page (and other pages, e.g. Festinger's page and the page about the book itself):

Kelly, T. (2026). Debunking “When Prophecy Fails.” Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 62(1), e70043. https://doi.org/10.1002/jhbs.70043 ~2025-34223-53 (talk) 05:36, 17 November 2025 (UTC)

An article in New Yorker this month discusses research that discounts Festinger's initial study, based in part on internal documentation that was just recently unsealed. This should be incorporated in this article. Bloodyviking (talk) 19:13, 17 December 2025 (UTC)

I agree Bloodyviking. A user above too notes that there were some prior edits of contradictions to the theory which were of poor quality by a user 'Cranein'. Maybe the sources this user used were still valid and could be worth including in a better written summary. FlyingFoxBoi (talk) 17:07, 8 January 2026 (UTC)

It would take me too much effort to coherently modify the article accordingly, but if someone wants to learn more, here are two papers against the theory. The first (heavily) criticizes the When Prophecy Fails (1956) paper methodology and is probably what the New Yorker article is about (although I can't see with the paywall). The second argues that, more generally, the literature around cults surviving failed prophecies is questionable, to put it mildly. It's also interesting to note that the Wiki page on When Prophecy Fails (1956) does mention the methodology critique but not this one.

1. Debunking “When Prophecy Fails”

Abstract: In 1954, Dorothy Martin predicted an apocalyptic flood and promised her followers rescue by flying saucers. When neither arrived, she recanted, her group dissolved, and efforts to proselytize ceased. But When Prophecy Fails (1956), the now-canonical account of the event, claimed the opposite: that the group doubled down on its beliefs and began recruiting—evidence, the authors argued, of a new psychological mechanism, cognitive dissonance. [...]

2. Failed Prophecies Are Fatal - IJSNR

Abstract: Many scholars of new religious movements claim that religious belief and religious groups generally survive failed apocalyptic or millennial prophecies. This claim originates with the original cognitive dissonance study, When Prophecy Fails, and has been reiterated by recent surveys of the field. In this article, I argue that this is false. I argue that the literature on religious groups which experience failed prophesy suffers from survivorship bias. I then demonstrate that even setting that aside, the extant case studies of failed prophecies show that the most common outcome for a religious group following a failed prophecy is group demise. [...]

~2026-41921-5 (talk) 23:47, 19 January 2026 (UTC)

This article is currently the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 12 January 2026 and 24 April 2026. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): AwkwardSquatch (article contribs). Peer reviewers: Ncperson.

— Assignment last updated by Ncperson (talk) 20:57, 20 February 2026 (UTC)

I think I can cover many of the info gaps by expanding on the article, but a little beyond the original idea. I think I'll add in another section about the more recent data about on CDT. That'll probably need a small summary of biological based research I found. THe one that talks about whether or not dissonance produces any kind of stress reactions. Then I'll probably add another part that goes over the vicarious dissonance idea in order to show the reader that a person's group identity and their social stance within also affects their mental well-being. Finally, I might also tie it all up by including the recent digital media research I found. That one can link dissonance to issues like information overload and quitting media really well. I think by adding these in, I can round out the original wiki article nicely by linking old school CDT research to current and relevant data between three completely different disciplines. -AwkwardSquatch