Stanley Schachter

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Stanley Schachter
PhD)
SpouseSophia Duckworth
Children1
Scientific career
FieldsPsychology
InstitutionsUniversity of Minnesota
Columbia University
ThesisDeviation, rejection, and communication. (1950)
Doctoral advisorLeon Festinger
Doctoral studentsRichard E. Nisbett
Lee Ross
Nicholas Christenfeld
E. Tory Higgins
Jerome E. Singer
Bibb Latané
Judith Rodin

Stanley Schachter (April 15, 1922 – June 7, 1997) was an American

physiological arousal and a cognitive label. A person's experience of an emotion stems from the mental awareness of the body's physical arousal and the explanation one attaches to this arousal. Schachter also studied and published many works on the subjects of obesity, group dynamics, birth order and smoking. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Schachter as the seventh most cited psychologist of the 20th century.[1]

Biographical background

Early life and education

Schachter was born in

Wright Field in Riverside, Ohio, studying the visual problems experienced by pilots in flight.[5]

In 1946, after his term in the armed forces, Schachter went to the

dissertation on how individuals with differing opinions who were working in small groups were treated by the members of the group whose opinion matched with the majority.[4]

Early career (University of Minnesota 1949–1961)

The new doctor of psychology's impressive dissertation earned him a job in 1949 at the

group cohesion, and persuasion.[4]

Such work gained Schachter several honors and awards during his time at the University of Minnesota. In 1952, Schachter was awarded a

AAAS Prize for Behavioral Science Research in 1959.[6] That year, Schachter also won the first of his several General Electric Foundation Awards, which he continued to win each year through 1962.[5]

Later career (Columbia University 1961–1992)

After 12 years at the University of Minnesota, Scachter joined the

pain perception, and obesity. Thanks to such studies as these, he was named Robert Johnston Niven Professor of Social Psychology in 1966. Schachter continued to obtain honors in the following two years, becoming a fellow of the Guggenheim Foundation in 1967 and winning the American Psychological Association
Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award in 1968.[9]

During the 1970s, Schachter's research shifted focus yet again, this time to

withdrawal effects in those trying to quit a full fifteen years before the tobacco industry
would publicly admit these things.

In 1983, Schachter's extensive and ground-breaking research studies earned him a spot in the National Academy of Sciences. And a year later, he was given the Distinguished Scientist Award from the Society of Experimental Social Psychology. But being a man of great curiosity, Schachter did not stop performing research after obtaining these honors. In the mid-1980s and early 1990s, his research again shifted focus, this time to topics such as the stock market and speech issues.[4]

Retirement and death (1992–1997)

At the age of 70, Schachter decided it was time to end his 31-year career at Columbia University and retired in 1992 with an emeritus designation. Five years later, Schachter died on June 7, 1997, at his home in

Richard Nisbett, Lee Ross, Jerome Singer, Stewart Valins, Patricia Pliner, Judith Rodin, and Ladd Wheeler.[4] His papers are archived at the Bentley Historical Library of the University of Michigan.[3]

Contributions to psychology

Major publications and findings

Deviation, rejection, and communication (1951)

Schachter conducted an experiment that tested the social pressures that a person may feel to conform to fit the cohesiveness, match the opinions of the group, and significance of other group members. Schachter recognized the importance of communication and rejection among a group and coordinated these variables along with the constructs of the experiment. Results from Schachter's experiments are key components to studying interpersonal communication and group dynamics.[7]

Birth order, eminence, and higher education (1963)

Schachter was also interested in research involving the original ideas of Francis Galton on eminence and birth order. It was believed that those who are more eminent, inventive, productive, or genius are either first-born or the only child within the family. Schachter's research concluded that this data is only a reflection because all previous research involves a college population as the experimental sample. He indicates that college samples for many reasons are overly-populated with family first-borns.[8]

Obesity and eating (1968)

Schachter conducted many experiments that tested the internal and external cues of

advertisements and periods of time dedicated to eating.[9]

Nicotine regulation in heavy and light smokers (1977)

Schachter conducted research on the regulation of nicotine intake among different types of smokers. He tested his hypothesis that smokers do indeed regulate their nicotine intake. Results showed that long-term heavy smokers did in fact regulate their nicotine intake by smoking more of low-nicotine cigarettes. Long-term light smokers did not regulate their nicotine intake consistently.[10]

Theories

Theory on emotion

Schachter along with Jerome Singer came up with the two-factor theory of emotion. This theory posits that emotion is based on two factors, cognitive labels and physiological arousal. When a person feels an emotion, physiological arousal occurs, and the person searches the environment for clues as to how to label the physiological arousal. They also propose two conditions that can occur when a person is in a state of arousal: when there is an explanation and when the individual does not have an explanation for their arousal. Under the first condition, an individual will use that explanation, and all will be fine. In the second condition, the individual will label their arousal based on external and internal stimuli.[11]

One important piece of this theory is the

attraction in fear-arousing situations indicates that the environment can lead to misattribution of physiological arousal. They placed an attractive interviewer on the opposite side of a fear-arousing suspension bridge and a non fear-arousing suspension bridge. After crossing the bridges the subjects were asked to fill out a survey and given a number to call if they had further questions. The results were that those who had crossed the fear-arousing bridge were more likely to call the interviewer to ask for a date than those who crossed the non fear-arousing bridge. The explanation of these results was that the subjects had misattributed their arousal from the bridge to their feelings toward the interviewer, making her seem more attractive.[12]

Theory on obesity

Schachter proposed that obese individuals are

sandwiches eaten by normal individuals but an increase in the number eaten by obese individuals. Taste also caused variations in amount consumed. While both groups consumed less of the bad-tasting food than they did the good-tasting food, the obese individuals had a higher difference; they ate more of the good tasting food and less of the bad tasting food than normal individuals.[13]

Publications

Books

Book chapters

  • Schachter, S. (1964) The interaction of cognitive and physiological determinants of emotional state. In Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, ed. L. Berkowitz, pp. 49–79. New York: Academic Press.
  • Schachter, S. & Latané, B. (1964). Crime, cognition and the autonomic nervous system. In Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, ed. D. Levine, pp. 221–73. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
  • Schachter, S. (1980). Nonpsychological explanations of behavior. In Retrospective on Social Psychology, ed. L. Festinger, pp. 131–57. New York: Oxford University Press.

Papers

  • Schachter, S. (1951) Deviation, rejection and communication.J. Abnorm. Soc. Psychol. 46:190-207.
  • Schachter, S. (1962) With J. Singer. Cognitive, social and physiological determinants of emotional state. Psychol. Rev. 69:379-99.
  • Schachter, S. (1963) Birth order, eminence and higher education. Am. Sociol. Rev. 28:757-68.
  • Schachter, S. (1968). Obesity and eating. Science 161:751-56.
  • Schachter, S. (1971). Some extraordinary facts about obese humans and rats. Am. Psychol. 26:129-44.
  • Schachter, S. (1977). Nicotine regulation in heavy and light smokers. J. Exp. Psychol. 106:5-12.
  • Schachter, S. (1978). Pharmacological and psychological determinants of cigarette smoking.
    Ann. Intern. Med.
    88:104-14.
  • Schachter, S. (1982). Recidivism and self-cure of smoking and obesity. Am. Psychol. 37:436-44.
  • Schachter, S. (1991) With
    J. Pers. Soc. Psychol.
    60:362-67.

References

  1. S2CID 145668721
    .
  2. ^ "PsycNET - Option to Buy".
  3. ^ a b c Gardner, L. (ed.) (1989.) A history of psychology in autobiography (vol. VIII). Stanford University Press, p. 449.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J.A. (2000.) Schachter, Stanley. In Kazdin, A.E. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Psychology (vol. 7). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association and Oxford University Press.
  5. ^ a b c Sheehy, N., Chapman, A.J., & Conroy, W. (eds.) (1997.) Schachter, Seymour [sic.] Biographical Dictionary of Psychology. London, England: Routledge.
  6. ^ "History & Archives: AAAS Prize for Behavioral Science Research". Archived from the original on 2020-08-01. Retrieved 2013-05-31.
  7. ^ Schachter, S. (1951). Deviation, rejection, and communication. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 46, 190-207.
  8. ^ Schachter, S. (1963). Birth order, eminence, and higher education. American Sociological Review, 28, 757-768.
  9. ^ Schachter, S. (1968). Obesity and eating. New Series, 161, 751-756.
  10. ^ Schachter, S. (1977). Studies of the interaction of psychological and pharmacological determinants of smoking: I. Nicotine regulation in heavy and light smokers. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 106, 5-12.
  11. ^ a b Schachter, S., & Singer, J. E. (1962). Cognitive, Social, and Physiological Determinants of Emotional State. Psychological Review, 378-399.
  12. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
    , 510-517.
  13. ^ Schachter, S. (1971). Some Extraordinary Facts About Obese Humans and Rats. American Psychologist, 129-144.

Further reading

Biographies, autobiographies and festschrift
  • Grunberg, N. E., Nisbett, R. E., Rodin, J., and Singer, J. E. (1987). A Distinctive Approach to Psychological Research: The Influence of Stanley Schachter. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. google books
  • G. Lindzey (ed.) A History of Psychology in Autobiography, Vol. VIII (1989). Stanford: Stanford University Press.

External links

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