Psychologically Sound & Social

  Effort justification is a situation in which we suffer for something, and justify it to ourselves by valuing the end result more than if we had not suffered for it (Aronson & Mills, 1959). It is a situation in which cognitive dissonance occurs (Aronson & Mills, 1959; Festinger, 1957) . Cognitive dissonance is the uneasiness we feel when we do something that does not align with our feelings or beliefs (Festinger, 1957) . Festinger’s cognitive dissonance theory (1957) states that we dislike this disconnect between our wants and our actions, so we do everything we can to alleviate our uneasiness about it. Sometimes, we change our beliefs or feelings to avoid cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1957) .  Aronson and Mills’ (1957) study is a well-known example of effort justification. Female participants were told that they would soon engage in a group discussion about sex (Aronson & Mills, 1959). Some participants were told that they needed to prove themselves to be a...

  why I chose this person Sometimes, it feels like psychologic research exists in a vacuum. Not only has Dr. Kristin Dukes done research which connects to racial justice, she also will actively use that knowledge to create organizational change within a college campus.   background According to her LinkedIn profile, Dr. Dukes graduated from Rice University with her undergraduate degree in psychology in 2005. She went on to earn her master’s degree in social psychology at Tufts in 2007. In 2012, Dukes would earn her PhD in social psychology at Tufts. Up until recently, she had been an associate professor at Simmons College. She shifted her career focus and, this past summer, has taken a job as Chief Diversity officer at Chatham University.   research She hasn’t produced a wide body of research, yet. She has a bit of research on the consequences of alcohol and marijuana use. However, she has a passion for social issues. She focuses on how racial stereotypes affect how ...