Meaning of disconfirmed expectancy | Babel Free

Definitions

A failed prophecy, leading to a form of cognitive dissonance in the believer.

countable, uncountable

Examples

“Assimilation theory in marketing research⟳ draws upon Festinger's (1957) cognitive dissonance theory and suggests that disconfirmed expectancy about a product or service will create⟳ psychological discomfort. As a result⟳, consumers will reduce⟳ psychological tension by modifying assessment of the technical quality of the product or service.”

“Expectancies are disconfirmed when what people anticipate will happen⟳ fails to occur⟳ or when things do not happen⟳ in quite the way they had anticipated, that is 'things are not how they were meant to be' (Mullavey-O'Byrne & Fitzgerald 1995). Responses to such situations are often charged with high levels of emotionality that may or may not be expressed; alternatively a disconfirmed expectancy may also lead⟳ to a positive emotional response.”

“Social psychologist Leon Festinger first proposed the theory in 1957 after the publication of his book When Prophecy Fails, observing the counterintuitive belief persistence of members of a UFO doomsday cult and their increased proselytization after the leader's prophecy failed. The failed message of earth's destruction, purportedly sent by aliens to a woman in 1956, became a disconfirmed expectancy that increased dissonance between cognitions, thereby causing most members of the impromptu cult to lessen⟳ the dissonance by accepting a new prophecy: that the aliens had instead spared the planet for their sake.”

CEFR level