Cults, Conscripts, and College Boys: Whither Cognitive Dissonance?
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The induced-compliance paradigm is a core concept within cognitive dissonance theory, yet a recent multilab Registered Replication Report (Vaidis et al., 2024) found no evidence for the effect. Pauer, Linner, and Erb (2024) called for broader methods and historical perspectives. This commentary brings together such evidence from outside psychology: quasi-experimental studies of military conscription, longitudinal research on fraternity hazing, and new archival work on When Prophecy Fails and other prophetic movements. Across democratic, authoritarian, and small-group settings, coerced or effortful participation fails to generate the attitudinal justification predicted by induced compliance. Across fraternities, hazing does not predict greater group solidarity. Cults do not tend to survive failed prophecies. Together, these findings suggest that the effect is fragile and context-dependent, and that its privileged status in social psychology warrants re-examination
