When Prophecy Fails

When Prophecy Fails is a classic book in the field of social psychology, written by Leon Festinger, Henry Riecken, and Stanley Schachter. The book explores the phenomenon of cognitive dissonance and the psychological reactions of individuals when their beliefs are challenged by contradictory evidence.The authors conducted a study of a small group of people who believed in a doomsday prophecy that predicted the end of the world on a specific date. The group's leader, a woman named Dorothy Martin, claimed to have received messages from extraterrestrial beings that confirmed the prophecy.When the predicted date came and went without any cataclysmic events, the group was faced with a dilemma. Many of them had given up their jobs, possessions, and relationships in preparation for the end of the world, and now they had to reconcile their beliefs with the reality that the prophecy had not come true.The authors observed the group's reactions and found that some members of the group actually became more committed to the prophecy after its failure, while others experienced cognitive dissonance and either rejected the prophecy or modified their beliefs to fit the new information.When Prophecy Fails is a fascinating study of human behavior and belief systems, and it has been influential in the fields of psychology, sociology, and anthropology. The book is a must-read for anyone interested in the psychology of belief and the ways in which people cope with cognitive dissonance.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.