Quality Assessment and Assurance: Early Signs of Cognitive Dissonance

Abstract

SOCIAL psychologists often confuse complex issues by introducing another layer of jargon into a discussion that is already difficult to understand. However, the term "cognitive dissonance" provides an intriguing explanation for some of the irrational qualities of group behavior. Leon Festinger has applied this term to groups who believe strongly in a set of ideas and reaffirm them most fervently at the moment when they are disproved.1 In a classic account of this phenomenon, Festinger described the Millerites, who believed that the Second Advent of Christ, ushering in the millenium, would occur in 1843. William Miller, a New England farmer, . . .