In 1959, festinger and carlsmith conducted an experiment which tested cognitive dissonance theory. participants were asked to spend an hour performing a very boring task which involved placing and removing objects from a tray and turning pegs on a board. after participants had completed this task, they thought that the experiment was finished. all of the participants were then taken to another room where they were asked a series of questions about the experiment including whether they found it interesting and if they would sign up or a similar study. however, some participants were given an additional task before being interviewed. these participants were asked to go into a waiting room, and to recommend the experiment they had just completed to other potential participants who were waiting to complete the experiment. they were instructed to tell these potential participants that the experiment was fun and enjoyable. half of the participants in this group were paid $1 to recommend the experiment and the other half were paid $20. these participants were then taken to the interview room and asked the same questions as the participants in the control group, who were not paid and were not asked to talk to other participants. the participants in the $20 group responded similarly to the participants in the control group, namely that they did not find the experiment to be enjoyable and that they would not sign up to participate in a similar experiment. in contrast, participants in the $1 group rated the experiment as more enjoyable than participants in the other two groups, and indicated that they would be more willing to participate in another similar experiment.