research Methods in the Behavioral Sciences

by Leon Festinger

Los autores de este libro han logrado dos propósitos bá colaborar con la actual tendencia hacia la codificación de las técnicas de investigación, y proporcionar a quienes trabajan en ciencias sociales el conocimiento de los principios y procedimientos de la metodología moderna. En efecto, el descubrimiento contemporáneo de que la metodología científica puede aplicarse a los problemas humanos revolucionó la psicología y todas las ramas de la ciencias sociales. Y en consecuencia, la investigación empírica y cuantitativa tuvo en ese campo un desarrollo sin precedentes. A partir de ahí, el presente volumen ofrece al lector temas tan fundamentales como el análisis de los problemas específicos de la investigación sociopsicológica y el estudio de los métodos socioposicológicos en su relación con otros métodos de investigación. Se trata de un texto cuya intención primordial es que los científicos sociales no subestimen la investigación en ciencias sociales ni dejen de depositar confianza en el método científico como herramienta para resolver los complejos problemas sociales que afronta nuestro mundo. Y en este sentido -aunque la mayoría de los colaboradores de este volumen sean psicólogos sociales- los enfoques y métodos analizados en sus páginas tendrán aplicación en muchos campos y especialidades. Compilación de Leon Festinger y Daniel Katz.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1953

About the author

Leon Festinger was interested in science at a young age, and decided to pursue a career in psychology. He received his bachelor's degree from City College of New York and went on to Iowa State University for his master's degree and his Ph.D. (which he received in 1942). For the next several years he made his living teaching at different universities until he went to Stanford in 1955.

At Stanford, Festinger began to fully develop the idea he called cognitive dissonance. The original idea stemmed from his observation that people generally liked consistency in their daily lives. For example, some individuals always sit in the same seat on the train or bus when they commute to work, or always eat lunch in the same restaurant. Cognitive dissonance is a part of this need for consistence.

Essentially, Festinger explained, all people hold certain beliefs, and when they are asked to do something that runs counter to their beliefs, conflict arises. Cognitive dissonance comes into play when people try to reconcile the conflicting behaviors or ideas.

Cognitive dissonance soon became an important and much-discussed theory. Over the years it has generated considerable research, in part because it is one of a number of theories based on the idea that consistency of thought is a strong motivating factor in people.

Festinger continued his work at Stanford until 1968 when he returned to New York City to assume the Else and Hans Staudinger professorship at the New School for Social Research. He continued his research on cognitive dissonance as well as other behavioral issues. He was also active in professional organizations including the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He continued to work until his death on February 11, 1989, from liver cancer. He was survived by his wife Trudy and four children.

Taken from the the Encyclopedia of Psychology