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Comparing The Theories Of Jim Sidanius And Leon Festinger

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There is often a relationship in how theorists have been influenced by their experiences, upbringing, training and implied presence of other human beings. Theorists do not develop their ideas in isolation. They are influenced by social forces which are the root of most ideas. The essay aims to compare two social psychologists that are influential in the social psychology discipline. The two psychologists are Jim Sidanius and Leon Festinger. Moreover, their life experiences, upbringing and training have contributed to their formulation of ideas in their theories. The theorists have encountered some stimulating environmental occurrences that have led them to coming up with these theoretical ideas. In addition, both theorists developed social …show more content…

Social dominance theory states that every society has hierarchies structured with different groups possessing varying levels of rights and status (Ratele,2006). In contrast, Festinger was influenced by experiments more than personal experiences. Kurt Lewin played a significant role in the formulation of his theory since he supervised Festinger when they worked together at the Lewin research center. The social comparison theory states that people analyse their attitudes and behaviour by comparing themselves to other individuals whom they consider to be of their equal status(Ratele,2006). Comparing the theorists Biographies and Personal Experiences Jim Sidious is an African social psychologist who was born in America. He acquired his PHD at the Stockholm university. He is the pioneer of the social dominance theory. He worked as a professor at the University of UCLA. He experienced racist events that made him question the need of police to be dominant and the need to have power over the minority and outgroups race. These type of experiences have led to innovative formulation of ideas around theory of social dominance. He knew he was different at the age of 10 when he knew that he was a “Negro”. He then experience a …show more content…

He acquired his PHD at the University of Iowa. Contrasting Festinger from Sidanius is that Festinger was never interested in social psychology while Sidanius studied political psychology. In addition, he was the pioneer of the social comparison and the cognitive dissonance theory. He worked at the Lewin Research center but later developed interest in the visual perception discipline, archaeology and history which has resulted in his leaving the center. It was during this time that he authored several articles on the level of aspiration, decision processes, statistics, as well as taste preferences in rats (Dazzi,1987). In contrast to Sidanius, Festinger’s first writing was influenced by his supervisor Lewis and Festinger needed to critic some of Lewis writings’ left psychology work towards his research in the visual perception research but it was not successful. Unlike Sidanius, Festinger was not entirely influenced by personal experiences but the experimentation techniques that he carried out in labs to construct his ideas. In addition, the theories that he formulated were a result of the initial theory of propinquity which is the theory behind the proximity effect which stated that the connection between people living in close together determine the bond of relationship ties between them (Festinger,1954). He then moved to Michigan after

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