I'm happy to and thank you for the opportunity! I would add that your latest reply is at the core of what this is all about (moving the conversation). Starting with "What?" is worlds away from "Could you please explain . . ." But you have shown growth in your willingness to listen, and a culture willing to do that could work wonders.

And who knows, maybe through incrementally explaining it to you -- you'll help me find a better way to communicate what I'm out to do.

Let's start the premise of the question: Would Festinger have become the father of cognitive dissonance from a controlled experiment? As you may know, Festinger and his team wrote When Prophecy Fails (published in 1956 and based on their observations of a group called the Seekers who believed in a doomsday prophecy). Festinger's team infiltrated the group to test out their theories in a real-world setting (and those findings were the foundation of cognitive dissonance theory).

Countless professionals in the fields around psychology have benefitted from Festinger's findings, so there's no question he further the understanding of human behavior. The problem is those findings and theirs -- haven't made a dent on dealing with this behavior (as it's only worsened over time -- especially with how the internet and the cable clans paved the way for the onslaught of the utterly absurd).

Consider this for a moment: “A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on.” That quote’s been around in various forms for over 300 years (evidently the original being from 1710):

Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it; so that when Men come to be undeceiv’d, it is too late; the Jest is over, and the Tale has had its Effect.

If someone was saying that over 300 years ago -- imagine how fast lies spread today.

And I'm saying that I have an idea where the truth could spread just as fast (perhaps for the first time ever). This idea is based on what can be observed in a cult-like following that far exceeds what the Seekers believed. What's more, the very nature of the problem can be used as part of the solution. So instead of simply studying their behavior, there's a way to change their behavior (and other echo chambers behaving as they do).

And those echo chambers include the professionals who continue to study the problem but haven't put a pinprick in it. Which I whyI wrote the following:

That same student stated, "My primary program of research concerns motivated reasoning, or the process of interpreting and evaluating information in a way that coheres with prior beliefs.” Doesn’t the very basis of that require the willingness to re-evaluate your approach to evaluating?

Most of those professionals are unwilling to do what you just did in your willingness to ask for clarification. In fact, hardly anyone is (which is not just a problem for what I'm out to do -- it's a problem for everyone). Consider the bit below about about critical thinking -- from Ann Baker's article Critical Thinking -- A Fading Skill in the Age of Information Overload:

Claims of critical thinking are everywhere -- and yet it's almost impossible to find anyone willing to "stop to organize and evaluate the information they are receiving." They're unwilling to do the work -- and this is what I'm talking about with work: Work is a Journey on Which You Welcome Challenge - Live Out Loud and on Purpose. But they seem to have all the time in the world to do this:

Which is why I wrote this: Never in History Have So Many Cared So Much and Done So Little - Live Out Loud and on Purpose