Deluded Witnesses - View Themselves as Temporary " Alien Residents"

by flipper 23 Replies latest jw friends

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  compound complex

  In a famous book written by Dr. Leon Festinger called When Prophecy Fails, the issue of people facing a disconfirmation of their beliefs is dealt with. Festinger theorized that a group of people whose beliefs run up against radical and stark disconfirmation will instead of giving up those beliefs, generally become more aggressive in trying to convert other people to what they believe. ” Pasted by Englishman. Bring on the dancing girls

  FOUND IT!

  THANKS AGAIN, FLIPPER!

  COCO
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  compound complex

  When Prophecy Fails

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  Book cover, 1964 edition.
  Author	Leon Festinger, Henry Riecken, Stanley Schachter
  Country	United States
  Language	English
  Subject(s)	Psychology
  Genre(s)	Non-fiction
  Publisher	Harper-Torchbooks
  Publication date	January 1, 1956
  Media type	Hardcover
  Pages	253
  ISBN	ISBN 0061311324
  OCLC	217969

  When Prophecy Fails: A Social and Psychological Study of A Modern Group that Predicted the Destruction of the World is a 1956 classic book in social psychology by Leon Festinger, Henry Riecken, and Stanley Schachter about a UFO cult that believes the end of the world is at hand.

  Contents [ hide ] 1 Cognitive dissonance 2 Premise of study 3 Sequence of events 4 See also 5 References 5.1 Notes 5.2 Sources 6 External links

  [edit] Cognitive dissonance

  Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance can account for the psychological consequences of disconfirmed expectations. One of the first published cases of dissonance was reported in the book, When Prophecy Fails (Festinger et al. 1956). Festinger and his associates read an interesting item in their local newspaper headlined "Prophecy from planet clarion call to city: flee that flood." A Chicago housewife, Mrs. Marion Keech, had mysteriously been given messages in her house in the form of "automatic writing" from alien beings on the planet Clarion, who revealed that the world would end in a great flood before dawn on December 21. The group of believers, headed by Mrs. Keech, had taken strong behavioral steps to indicate their degree of commitment to the belief. They had left jobs, college, and spouses, and had given away money and possessions to prepare for their departure on the flying saucer, which was to rescue the group of true believers.

  [edit] Premise of study

  Festinger and his colleagues saw this as a case that would lead to the arousal of dissonance when the prophecy failed. Altering the belief would be difficult, as Mrs. Keech and her group were committed at considerable expense to maintain it. Another option would be to enlist social support for their belief. As Festinger wrote, "If more and more people can be persuaded that the system of belief is correct, then clearly it must after all be correct." In this case, if Mrs. Keech could add consonant elements by converting others to the basic premise, then the magnitude of her dissonance following disconfirmation would be reduced. Festinger et al. predicted that the inevitable disconfirmation would be followed by an enthusiastic effort at proselytizing to seek social support and lessen the pain of disconfirmation.

  [edit] Sequence of events

  Festinger and his colleagues infiltrated Mrs. Keech's group and reported the following sequence of events: [1]

  • Prior to December 20. The group shuns publicity. Interviews are given only grudgingly. Access to Mrs. Keech's house is only provided to those who can convince the group that they are true believers. The group evolves a belief system—provided by the automatic writing from the planet Clarion—to explain the details of the cataclysm, the reason for its occurrence, and the manner in which the group would be saved from the disaster.

  • December 20. The group expects a visitor from outer space to call upon them at midnight and to escort them to a waiting spacecraft. As instructed, the group goes to great lengths to remove all metallic items from their persons. As midnight approaches, zippers, bra straps, and other objects are discarded. The group waits.

  • 12:05 A.M., December 21. No visitor. Someone in the group notices that another clock in the room shows 11:55. The group agrees that it is not yet midnight.

  • 12:10 A.M. The second clock strikes midnight. Still no visitor. The group sits in stunned silence. The cataclysm itself is no more than seven hours away.

  • 4:00 A.M. The group has been sitting in stunned silence. A few attempts at finding explanations have failed. Mrs. Keech begins to cry.

  • 4:45 A.M. Another message by automatic writing is sent to Mrs. Keech. It states, in effect, that the God of Earth has decided to spare the planet from destruction. The cataclysm has been called off: "The little group, sitting all night long, had spread so much light that God had saved the world from destruction."

  • Afternoon, December 21. Newspapers are called; interviews are sought. In a reversal of its previous distaste for publicity, the group begins an urgent campaign to spread its message to as broad an audience as possible.

  Festinger stated that five conditions must be met, if someone is to become more fervent in a belief even after its disconfirmation:

  • A belief must be held with deep conviction and it must have some relevance to action, that is, to what the believer does or how he behaves.

  • The person holding the belief must have committed himself to it; that is, for the sake of his belief, he must have taken some important action that is difficult to undo. In general, the more important such actions are, and the more difficult they are to undo, the greater is the individual's commitment to the belief.

  • The belief must be sufficiently specific and sufficiently concerned with the real world so that events may unequivocally refute the belief.

  • Such undeniable disconfirmatory evidence must occur and must be recognized by the individual holding the belief.

  • The first two of these conditions specify the circumstances that will make the belief resistant to change. The third and fourth conditions together, on the other hand, point to factors that would exert powerful pressure on a believer to discard his belief. It is, of course, possible that an individual, even though deeply convinced of a belief, may discard it in the face of unequivocal disconfirmation. We must therefore, state a fifth condition specifying the circumstances under which the belief will be discarded and those under which it will be maintained with new fervor.

  • The individual believer must have social support. It is unlikely that one isolated believer could withstand the kind of disconfirming evidence we have specified. If, however, the believer is a member of a group of convinced persons who can support one another, we would expect the belief to be maintained and the believers to attempt to proselyte or to persuade nonmembers that the belief is correct.

  [edit] See also

  Coping mechanism Doomsday cult Exotheology

  Paranormal
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  WTWizard

  I think it's much better to plan on working toward the future than to waste the present on sacrifice to a "higher cause" that does not give a fxxx whether or not you are able to get to the future. I believe that man can, without interference from God or the few pigs that insist on spoiling it for everyone, to create the future that the Watchtower Society paints for people, but without the stagnation and burdensome rules. It's just that people will have to become more, not less, materialsitic for this to happen.

  You see, when free market and science meet, people are going to create things that better society. People will actively create better medicine that heals people and rejuvenates them. We will have better food. We will have better transportation and energy, because the market leaders will have created those things. Even resurrection is not wholly beyond the realm of science, once technology advances that far. All without having to do a damn thing for some almighty Pig, or obeying the Filthful and Disgraceful Slavebugger.

  The question: Will our leaders allow this to happen? They have a lot to lose, at least in the short term. As long as people are allowed to create unnecessary rules, the process of man's creating his own paradise cannot begin. And, the Watchtower Society is excellent in hampering real progress while waiting on some mystical God to do it for them. And they waste their future warning (threatening) others that, unless they join, they will soon be destroyed to make room for the stagnant version of the New Order.
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  flipper

  Sorry I haven't replied on this thread in 2 days as I worked all night Tuesday, had to sleeep some Wednesday , so I'll reply to your comments.
  
  HOMEROVAH- Good point you bring out how the witnesses perception of reality causes them not to grow intellectually or be socially responsible . You are right - some way we have to convince them that the organization is only run by men - not God.
  
  COCO- Thanks for the information on the book , " When Prophecies Fail " - Good information !
  
  WT WIZARD- I agree it's much better to work on a future dealing with reality as opposed to pushing a fantasy future that the witnesses promote . I don't know if the political leaders will allow this kind of reality future to happen in a good way - time will tell