Editing Leon Festinger (section)

===Career===
In 1945, Festinger joined Lewin's newly formed Research Center for Group Dynamics at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] as an assistant professor. It was at MIT that Festinger, in his own words, "became, by fiat, a social psychologist, and immersed myself in the field with all its difficulties, vaguenesses, and challenges."<ref>Festinger, 1980, p. 237</ref> It was also at MIT that Festinger began his foray into social communication and pressures in groups that marked a turning point in his own research. As Festinger himself recalls, "the years at M.I.T. [sic] seemed to us all to be momentous, ground breaking, the new beginning of something important."<ref>Festinger, 1980, pp. 237–238</ref> Indeed, [[Stanley Schachter]], Festinger's student and research assistant at the time, states, "I was lucky enough to work with Festinger at this time, and I think of it as one of the high points of my scientific life."<ref>Schachter, 1994, p. 102</ref>

Yet, this endeavor "started as almost an accident"<ref>Schachter, 1994, p. 101</ref> while Festinger was conducting a study on the impact of architectural and ecological factors on student housing satisfaction for the university. Although the proximity effect (or [[propinquity]]) was an important direct finding from the study, Festinger and his collaborators also noticed correlations between the degree of friendship within a group of residents and the similarity of opinions within the group,<ref>Zukier, 1989, p. xiii</ref> thus raising unexpected questions regarding communication within social groups and the development of group standards of attitudes and behaviors.<ref>Festinger, Schachter, & Back, 1950</ref> Indeed, Festinger's seminal 1950 paper on informal social communication as a function of pressures toward attitude uniformity within a group cites findings from this seemingly unrelated housing satisfaction study multiple times.<ref>Festinger, 1950</ref>

After Lewin's death in 1947, Festinger moved with the research center to the [[University of Michigan]] in 1948. He then moved to the [[University of Minnesota]] in 1951, and then on to [[Stanford University]] in 1955. During this time, Festinger published his highly influential paper on social comparison theory, extending his prior theory regarding the evaluation of attitudes in social groups to the evaluation of abilities in social groups.<ref>Festinger, 1954</ref> Following this, in 1957, Festinger published his theory of cognitive dissonance, arguably his most famous and influential contribution to the field of social psychology.<ref>Festinger, 1957</ref> Some also view this as an extension of Festinger's prior work on group pressures toward resolving discrepancies in attitudes and abilities within social groups to how the individual resolves discrepancies at the cognitive level.<ref>Schachter, 1994, p. 104</ref> Festinger also received considerable recognition during this time for his work, both from within the field, being awarded the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award by the American Psychological Association in 1959,<ref>American, 1959</ref> and outside of the field, being named as one of America's ten most promising scientists by ''[[Fortune (magazine)|Fortune]]'' magazine shortly after publishing social comparison theory.<ref>Schachter, 1994, p. 103</ref>

Despite such recognition, Festinger left the field of social psychology in 1964, attributing his decision to "a conviction that had been growing in me at the time that I, personally, was in a rut and needed an injection of intellectual stimulation from new sources to continue to be productive."<ref>Festinger, 1980, p. 248</ref> He turned his attention to the visual system, focusing on human eye movement and color perception. In 1968, Festinger returned to his native New York City, continuing his perception research at [[The New School]], then known as the New School for Social Research. In 1979, he closed his laboratory, citing dissatisfaction with working "on narrower and narrower technical problems."<ref>Festinger, 1983, p. ix</ref>