Elliot Aronson, one of social psychology's elder statesmen, has been studying cognitive dissonance for almost half a century. In his recent book, Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts, co-authored with Carol Tavris, he presents an engaging account of all the ways in which cognitive dissonance displays itself. As a student, Elliot Aronson worked with two great psychologists. One was Abraham Maslow, a founder of the Human Potential Movement, which was highly influential in the field of therapy and helped fuel the popular self-help movement. His mentor and greatest influence, however, was a more hard-headed scientist, Leon Festinger.