No free photograph
Leon Festinger
American psychologist · United States · On the map · Academics · Lived 1919 to 1989 · aged 69
Leon Festinger was an American social psychologist who originated the theory of cognitive dissonance and social comparison theory.
Leon Festinger is read about 217 times a day, in 42 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 9 November 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 111 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?People around Leon
Close ties
Awards
About this person
The rejection of the previously dominant behaviorist view of social psychology by demonstrating the inadequacy of stimulus-response conditioning accounts of human behavior is largely attributed to his theories and research. Festinger is also credited with advancing the use of laboratory experimentation in social psychology, although he simultaneously stressed the importance of studying real-life situations, a principle he practiced when personally infiltrating a doomsday cult. He is also known in social network theory for the proximity effect.
