Merrill Carlsmith
J. Merrill Carlsmith was an American social psychologist perhaps best known for his collaboration with Leon Festinger and Elliot Aronson in the creation and development of cognitive dissonance theory. He also worked extensively with Mark Lepper on the subject of attribution theory. With Jonathan L. Freedman and David O. Sears he wrote the textbook, Social Psychology.
Carlsmith was married to social psychologist Lyn Carlsmith from 1963 until his death, and had three children: Christopher, Kimberly, and Kevin. He graduated from Stanford University and Harvard University.
