Conference Program
Conference program is available here: CONFERENCE PROGRAM
Book of abstracts is available here: BOOK OF ABSTRACTS
Scope of the meeting
Research on the topic of cognitive consistency has had a long tradition in social psychology (Festinger, 1957, 1964; Abelson et al., 1968). Over the last sixty years, numerous studies have been conducted to investigate Festinger’s proposition that “the existence of nonfitting relations among cognitions is a motivating factor in its own right” (Festinger, 1957, p. 3). The assumption that incongruent beliefs produce negative tension which motivates a restoration of consistency has inspired research in domains ranging from decision-making to attitude change and social influence, among many others. However, important theoretical questions remain; as such, there has recently been renewed interest in the topic of cognitive consistency (Gawronski & Strack, 2012). The goal of this small group meeting is to enable a fruitful exchange of ideas between researchers working on the topic of cognitive consistency. Here are examples of questions that the meeting would focus on:
- Is cognitive consistency a goal in itself as suggested by Festinger (1957), or is it better understood as a means to a goal? And if it is a means, what is the goal served by this means?
- What are the factors that determine the degree of cognitive inconsistency an individual experiences?
- Does any expectancy-violating information necessarily evoke negative affect, or can inconsistency be related to positive emotions in certain circumstances (e.g., positive surprise)?
- What individual differences and contextual factors moderate reactions to inconsistency?
- What are the neuropsychological reactions to expectancy-violations?
These fundamental questions will be discussed in depth at the Kraków Small Group Meeting.
Invited speakers
We are pleased to announce the list of confirmed invited and keynote speakers:
- Cindy Harmon-Jones (University of New South Wales),
- Arie Kruglanski (University of Maryland),
- Andrzej Nowak (Florida Atlantic University and University of Warsaw),
- Travis Proulx (Tilburg University),
- Bill Swann (University of Texas at Austin),
- Piotr Winkielman (Universtiy of California, San Diego),
- Bogdan Wojciszke (University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Sopot),
- Rex Wright (University of North Texas).