description Elliot Aronson Overview
Elliot Aronson is an American social psychologist whose research addresses cognitive dissonance, persuasion, interpersonal attraction, and the consequences of prejudice. He developed the jigsaw classroom in the 1970s as a cooperative learning method in which students depend on one another to master different parts of a lesson. Designed in response to conflict in newly desegregated schools, the method has been studied as a way to improve cooperation, empathy, and learning.
insights Ranking position
Elliot Aronson ranks #39 of 228 in the Psychologist ranking, behind Kent Berridge, ahead of Albert Ellis.
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What is Elliot Aronson's jigsaw classroom?
The jigsaw classroom divides a lesson so each student becomes responsible for one essential piece and must teach it to teammates. Aronson and colleagues developed the method in the 1970s while responding to conflict in newly desegregated schools in Austin, Texas.
How is the jigsaw classroom supposed to reduce prejudice?
It replaces direct competition with structured interdependence because every group member holds information the others need. This creates repeated cooperative contact and gives students of different backgrounds visible, valuable roles.
What did Elliot Aronson contribute to cognitive dissonance theory?
Aronson argued that dissonance becomes especially powerful when behavior conflicts with a person's self-concept as competent or moral. His work extended Leon Festinger's original theory by emphasizing threats to the self.
What is the Aronson and Mills initiation study?
Aronson and Judson Mills found that participants who underwent a more embarrassing initiation later rated a dull discussion group more favorably. Published in 1959, the experiment became a classic example of effort justification.
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