That experiment was set up by J. Merrill Carlsmith and Leon Festinger, who first proposed it.  
This concept arose out of a participant observation study of a cult that believed that the earth was going to be destroyed by a flood.  The prototypical experiment demonstrating it involved a bribe of one or twenty dollars to bribe a confederate into undergoing a specific task and then gauging impressions from an initial set of students.  That experiment was set up by J. Merrill Carlsmith and Leon Festinger, who first proposed it.  FTP, name this theory that describe a state in which individuals must choose between attitudes and behaviors that are contradictory and claims that individuals often change their attitudes to justify their behavior
This concept arose out of a participant observation study of a cult that believed that the earth was going to be destroyed by a flood.  
cognitive dissonance theory