Item Detail
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19700
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0
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0
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English
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Cognitive Dissonance and Commitment in Contemporary Mormonism
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Oakland, California
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Saybrook Graduate School
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Ph.D.
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Mormon scripture teaches that God is an exalted man, and Mormon leaders since Joseph Smith have expounded on the importance of this doctrine. However, on three separate occasions during 1997, President Gordon B. Hinkley, the current prophet of the Mormon Church, downplayed and denied the importance of that belief. This study was undertaken to investigate the reaction of contemporary Mormons to the public statements made by their prophet in 1997. It can be reasonably assumed that this information would be disconcerting to the faithful Mormon. Using a framework of cognitive dissonance theory, this investigator interviewed 30 Mormons regarding their beliefs about this doctrine and their reaction to the statements made by President Hinckley. The investigator conducted semi-structured, open-ended interviews. The data was analyzed to determine how the participants' reactions compare to those that can be postulated in the context of cognitive dissonance theories. It was further analyzed from a sociological perspective to determine if the level of social commitment participants display toward the Mormon Church serves as a mitigating factor in their ability to resolve dissonance. The results indicate that the level of dissonance experienced by the respondents was related to the context of their experience of Mormonism. Those whose focus was predominantly Mormon doctrine based demonstrated more indications of dissonance and greater anxiety at the dissonant information than did those whose focus of Mormonism was predominantly personal or social experience based. The responses and interview behaviors of the participants were consistent and explainable in the context of dissonance theory. Further, the results confirmed that, regardless of their predominant focus, the level of commitment experienced by active Mormons is extremely high, and that this commitment, in effect, insulated them from a potential negative impact from the contradictory information presented.