Editing Elliot Aronson (section)

===Cognitive dissonance===
Aronson's interests and research have paid particular attention to the theory of [[cognitive dissonance]].<ref>Festinger, L. (1957). ''A theory of cognitive dissonance.'' Evanston, IL: Row, Peterson. Aronson advanced Festinger's theory by showing that it is most powerful when the self-concept is involved; see Tavris, C., & Aronson, E. (2007), ''Mistakes were made (but not by ME): Why we justify foolish beliefs, bad decisions, and hurtful acts.'' New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.</ref> Aronson refined the theory, which posits that when attitudes and behaviors are inconsistent (dissonant), psychological discomfort results.  This discomfort motivates the person experiencing it to either change the behavior or the attitude so that consonance is restored.  In a classic experiment, Aronson demonstrated that people who undergo an embarrassing initiation to gain admission to a group develop more favorable evaluations of the group than people who are admitted after a mild or easy initiation.<ref>Aronson, E., & Mills, J. (1959). The effect of severity of initiation on liking for a group. ''Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology'', 59, 177–181.</ref> In Aronson's ''Theories of Cognitive Consistency'' (1973), he states: "Dissonance theory does not rest upon the assumption that man is a rational animal; rather, it suggests that man is a rationalizing animal – that he attempts to appear rational, both to others and to himself."<ref>
{{cite web
|url= http://theunboundedspirit.com/festingers-cognitive-dissonance-theory-and-research-examples/
|archive-url= https://archive.today/20140305142858/http://theunboundedspirit.com/festingers-cognitive-dissonance-theory-and-research-examples/
|url-status= dead
|archive-date= March 5, 2014
|title=Festinger's Cognitive Dissonance Theory and Research Examples|access-date=5 Mar 2014
|date=2012-04-22}} The core statement from this quote is often mis-attributed to Leon Festinger. The earliest known expression of this concept appears in [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s 1953 book ''[[Assignment in Eternity]]'', which collected Heinlein stories from the 1930s and 1940s: "Man is not a rational animal, he is a rationalizing animal."
</ref>