324 - Cognitive Dissonance - Part One (rebroadcast)

Oct 13, 2025

Explore the fascinating story of a doomsday cult that fervently awaited the apocalypse, only to face an unexpected reality when the predicted date came and went. Discover how members rationalized their beliefs and maintained faith despite a failed prophecy. Delve into cognitive dissonance, the mental struggle between conflicting beliefs, and the tactics we use to reconcile them. Find out how identity and belonging play crucial roles in belief persistence, illustrated by captivating historical anecdotes.

57:57

forum

Ask episode

web_stories

AI Snips

view_agenda

Chapters

menu_book

Books

auto_awesome

Transcript

info_circle

Episode notes

question_answer

ANECDOTE

Festinger's Cult Infiltration Study

Leon Festinger and colleagues infiltrated Dorothy Martin's doomsday cult to study belief when prophecy fails.
They observed the Seekers closely before, during, and after the failed 1954 apocalypse prediction.

question_answer

ANECDOTE

Dorothy Martin's Automatic Writing

Dorothy Martin used automatic writing to claim messages from the 'Guardians' on Clarion predicting a December 21st apocalypse.
Her gatherings grew into the Seekers group who prepared for alien pickup and the world-ending flood.

question_answer

ANECDOTE

Rituals And Media Frenzy

The Seekers removed all metal from their clothing, tore out zippers, and celebrated as part of preparing for alien pickup.
Media attention swelled and strangers lined up to join before the scheduled arrival, increasing the group's numbers.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Festinger Notices a Doomsday Cult in Chicago

01:13 • 4min

chevron_right

What Is Automatic Writing and Dorothy Martin's Messages?

05:22 • 2min

chevron_right

Why Festinger Saw a Research Opportunity

07:38 • 2min

chevron_right

How Festinger Infiltrated the Seekers

09:21 • 1min

chevron_right

Dorothy Martin's Spiritual Background

10:40 • 4min

chevron_right

How the Seekers Formed and Grew

15:03 • 2min

chevron_right

What the Prophecy Demanded of Followers

17:06 • 2min

chevron_right

What Did Festinger's Team Observe During Preparations?

How the Seekers Prepared Practically for Pickup

24:25 • 2min

chevron_right

What Happened When the Aliens Changed the Pickup Time?

26:03 • 4min

chevron_right

How the Group Rationalized the First Failures

29:41 • 2min

chevron_right

How the Seekers Endured the Night of the Prophecy

31:59 • 5min

chevron_right

How the Apocalypse Was Reinterpreted as Averted

36:46 • 2min

chevron_right

How Public Rituals Followed the Failed Prophecy

38:32 • 2min

chevron_right

What Became of Dorothy Martin and the Seekers

40:14 • 2min

chevron_right

When Prophecy Fails and the Birth of Cognitive Dissonance

41:59 • 2min

chevron_right

What Is Cognitive Dissonance?

43:34 • 51sec

chevron_right

Which Brain Areas Signal Dissonance?

44:25 • 2min

chevron_right

How People Reduce Cognitive Dissonance

46:13 • 4min

chevron_right

Why Identity and Belonging Strengthen Belief

49:48 • 4min

chevron_right

Topics Coming in Part Two

• Mentioned in 43 episodes

How Minds Change

The Surprising Science of Belief, Opinion, and Persuasion

David McRaney

In 'How Minds Change,' David McRaney delves into the latest research from psychologists and neuroscientists to explain why people believe what they do and how those beliefs can change. The book examines various methods such as deep canvassing and social epistemology, and features stories of individuals who have dramatically changed their minds, including a former 9/11 conspiracy theorist and a member of the Westboro Baptist Church. McRaney emphasizes the importance of empathetic conversations over debates and provides practical advice on how to influence others by focusing on their personal experiences rather than presenting facts alone.

#4079

• Mentioned in 8 episodes

The Invisible Gorilla

How Our Intuitions Deceive Us

Daniel Simons

Christopher Chabris

In 'The Invisible Gorilla,' Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris use their famous experiment and other scientific findings to show how our minds can miss obvious things due to selective attention. The book explains various ways our intuitions lead us to make costly and sometimes life-threatening mistakes. It covers topics such as why companies launch failed products, why award-winning movies have editing mistakes, and what criminals and chess masters have in common. The authors provide insights into why we succumb to these illusions and how we can become more aware of them to think more clearly.

#4313

• Mentioned in 8 episodes

You are not so smart

Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways You're Deluding Yourself

David McRaney

This book, based on David McRaney's popular blog, reveals how every decision, thought, and emotion comes with a story we tell ourselves, but often these stories are not true. It covers topics such as Learned Helplessness, Selling Out, and the Illusion of Transparency, presenting them in a humorous and engaging way. The book celebrates our irrational, human behavior and highlights the various ways we deceive ourselves about how we perceive, interpret, and construct our world.

#14199

• Mentioned in 3 episodes

A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance

Léon Festinger

In this book, Leon Festinger introduces his influential theory of cognitive dissonance, which describes the mental discomfort people experience when they hold two or more conflicting beliefs, values, or attitudes. The theory explains how individuals seek consistency in their cognitions and how this drive for consistency can lead to changes in attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors to reduce the dissonance. The book presents the results of experiments designed to test the implications of this theory and integrates empirical phenomena that were previously regarded as unrelated.

#4130

• Mentioned in 8 episodes

You are now less dumb

How to Conquer Mob Mentality, How to Buy Happiness, and All the Other Ways to Outsmart Yourself

David McRaney

In 'You Are Now Less Dumb,' David McRaney expands on the premise that we all believe ourselves to be objective observers of reality, except we’re not. The book provides eye-opening analyses of seventeen ways we fool ourselves daily, including Enclothed Cognition, the Benjamin Franklin Effect, Deindividuation, the Misattribution of Arousal, and the Sunk Cost Fallacy. McRaney uses a mix of popular psychology and trivia to make the subject engaging and relatable, helping readers understand and potentially overcome their own self-delusions.

#4013

• Mentioned in 8 episodes

This book chronicles the experience of a UFO cult in the Midwest that believed the world would be destroyed and its members would be saved by extraterrestrial beings. The authors examine how the cult members reacted when their prophecy was disconfirmed, highlighting the psychological and social mechanisms that led to increased fervor and rationalization among the believers despite the failure of their predictions.

In this episode, the story of a doomsday cult who predicted the exact date and circumstances of the end of the world, and what happened when that date passed and the world did not end.

Also, we explore our drive to remain consistent via our desire to reduce cognitive dissonance. When you notice you’ve done something you believe is wrong, then you will either stop doing that thing or stop believing it is wrong. And if you believe something is true but you come across some information that disconfirms that belief, you’ll either change your belief, challenge the validity of the challenging information, or go looking for confirmation you were right all along.

David McRaney’s BlueSky

David McRaney’s Twitter

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Home Top podcasts Popular guests Top books