Leon Festinger (1919-1989) studied cognitive dissonance. It involves two or more ideas or beliefs that someone holds about a particular topic. These ideas conflict with each other. When someone becomes aware of the conflict, they experience an uncomfortable state of cognitive dissonance and are motivated to reduce that feeling. An alternative idea, even if incorrect, can reduce dissonance, especially when it is also accepted by others.

One of the most famous experiments examining cognitive dissonance is the one-dollar experiment. Participants were required to perform two extremely boring tasks for an hour. They were then asked to tell the "next participant"—who was actually connected to the study—what they had been asked to do during the task. This was done according to a pre-written story (script) that stated that the work was engaging and interesting. Some participants received one dollar for performing this story, while others received twenty dollars.

Finally, all participants had to express their opinion on how they would approach the work yourself had experienced. The results showed that participants who received only one dollar rated the task more positively than those who received twenty dollars. This was because the one-dollar participants experienced more cognitive dissonance, having given a falsely positive account of the experience, even though it was actually an unpleasant task for so little money. The twenty-dollar participants had received more money, making it easier for them to justify their false reporting. They argued to themselves that the work paid well.

The one-dollar participants were able to reduce their cognitive dissonance by adjusting their actual opinions about the work. The adjustment was that they found the work interesting.
⇧