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James M. Carlsmith: 2 ideas worth knowing

2 ideas from James M. Carlsmith, each explained in a minute and credited to the original work. Free on Savvy.

• Paid $1 to lie about a boring task, people ended up believing the lie

  In 1959, Festinger and Carlsmith had participants tell a waiting 'subject' that a tedious task was fascinating, paying some $1 and others $20 to do it. The $1 liars later rated the…

  — Leon Festinger and James M. Carlsmith, Cognitive Consequences of Forced Compliance

• People paid less to lie about a boring task ended up believing the lie more

  In Festinger and Carlsmith's 1959 experiment, subjects did a tedious task, then were paid either $1 or $20 to tell the next participant it was fun. Those paid just $1 later rated t…

  — Leon Festinger and James M. Carlsmith, Cognitive Consequences of Forced Compliance

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