Leon Festinger's Essay

Have you ever tried to convince someone that what you’re saying is true? They tend to believe what they think is fact, but what you could be saying is scientifically proven. No matter what you try to do he or she just won’t be convinced. In Chris Mooney’s article, he goes over why people are so hard to convince. That is Leon Festinger comes in. He set up a case study to try and find what happens when people come face to face with fact. Festinger and his team got into a cultist group called the Seekers, who are alien worshippers and prophesized that the world would end December 21, 1954.
Finally, the day came, and the prophecy proved to be false. That was what Festinger was waiting for to see how people react when something they are devoutly involved in does not happen. The cult ended up searching for an explanation asking why the event never came. That’s when they choose to believe that the almighty god saved earth which in returned strengthened their resolve. Festinger proved that no matter what facts lay in front of someone they chose to believe even when the facts point to its denial. This is called motivated reasoning. The power behind this reasoning is basic survival instinct denying any …show more content…
But how do you combat this natural defense that we all use? Never show evidence that will cause them to act defensively or you might just make their belief stronger. Kahan’s study with the newspaper showed how people with different beliefs respond to such an article about global warming. It was then proven that hierarchical people are more accepting that we are the cause of global warming and that this is a true article. When it comes down to the bare bones conservatives are far more likely to accept climate science if it is transferred from a business or religious figure who can explain things in different opinions than scientists do. They convince through values and not facts and that is how you convince someone to