In the psychology of motivation, balance theory is a theory of attitude change proposed by Fritz Heider. It treats the drive toward cognitive consistency as a motive toward psychological balance, the urge to maintain one's own values and beliefs over time, and Heider held that liking or sentiment relationships between people are balanced when the overall valence of affect in the relevant system works out to a positive result. A 2020 neuroimaging study reported distinct patterns of brain activation when people were shown balanced versus unbalanced relationship triads, in brain regions already associated with processing cognitive dissonance, offered by the study's authors as biological support for Heider's original account.
Facts
Core ClaimPeople are driven toward psychological balance, keeping their values and beliefs consistent over time. 1 Connections
Developed By
Fritz Heider introduced balance theory in his 1958 The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations, describing the drive toward cognitive consistency among triads of related sentiments and unit relations.
Sources
1. Balance theory, Wikipedia
Lead section, paragraph 1
It conceptualizes the cognitive consistency motive as a drive toward psychological balance.
References, Heider 1946 paper
Heider, Fritz (1946). "Attitudes and Cognitive Organization"
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