Festinger and Carlsmith conducted a famous experiment in the field of social psychology. This experiment was related to:

Cognitive dissonance

The correct answer is Option (3) → Cognitive dissonance

Festinger and Carlsmith’s (1959) experiment investigated how people deal with inconsistency between their attitudes and their behavior. Participants performed a boring task and were then asked to tell another person that it was enjoyable. Some participants were paid $1 for doing this, others $ 20. Surprisingly, those paid $1 reported actually enjoying the task more than those paid $20.

Reason:

• Being paid only $1 created high cognitive dissonance because the reward was too small to justify lying, so participants changed their attitudes to match their behavior (“Maybe the task was actually fun”).

• Being paid $20 provided enough external justification, so they did not feel the need to change their internal belief.

This study is a classic demonstration of cognitive dissonance theory, which explains how people strive for internal consistency between thoughts, feelings, and actions.