Theodore Newcomb

Theodore Mead Newcomb (July 24, 1903 – December 28, 1984) was an American social psychologist, professor and author. Newcomb led the Bennington College Study, which looked at the influence of the college experience on social and political beliefs. He was also the first to document the effects of proximity on acquaintance and attraction. Newcomb founded and directed the doctoral program in social psychology at the University of Michigan. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Newcomb as the 57th most cited psychologist of the 20th century.

Biography

Early life Theodore Newcomb was born in Rock Creek, Ohio, on July 24, 1903. His father was a minister. The Newcombs were ostracized for coming out against the Ku Klux Klan when Theodore was growing up. Newcomb attended small rural schools until he started high school in Cleveland. He graduated as valedictorian of his high school, and during his address he criticized the New York State Legislature for "Having denied seats to two legally elected members on grounds that they were bolshvistic socialists." Newcomb graduated summa cum laude from Oberlin College in 1924 and attended Union Theological Seminary. While at seminary, Newcomb decided to become a psychologist. He completed a PhD at Columbia University in 1929 where he worked closely with Goodwin Watson and Gardner Murphy.

Career Newcomb held academic appointments at Lehigh University (1929-1930), Case Western Reserve University (1930-1934), Bennington College (1934-1941) and the University of Michigan (1941-1972). He served in the military during World War II between 1942 and 1945, assigned to the Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service in the Office of strategic Services and in the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey. Shortly after his return from the war, Newcomb founded Michigan's Survey Research Center, which became the Institute for Social Research. He also founded Michigan's doctoral program in social psychology with Robert Angell and Donald Marquis, and he chaired the program from 1947 to 1953. He was also editor of Psychological Review from 1954-1958

Death Newcomb died at home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1984 at 81 years old. He had suffered a stroke three weeks earlier. He was survived by his wife, the former Mary Esther Shipherd; two daughters, Esther Goody, of Cambridge, England, and Suzanne Mosher, of Chelsea, Michigan; a son, Theodore M. Newcomb, Jr., of Seattle; seven grandchildren, and a sister, Constance Eck, of East Lansing, Michigan.

Contributions

Bennington College Study He studied the kinds of individual and small-group teachings that were possible at a small college. After a four-year longitudinal study he was able to show degrees of change concerning then contemporary public issues and how that varied directly with length of stay in the college and the status position within the student body. 25 years later a follow-up study supported his original data. This study is known as the Bennington College Study, and still highly discussed in social psychology. He developed many longitudinal studies, something that was considered a novelty in the psychological field.

Acquaintance process One of Newcomb's greatest contributions involved his study of the acquaintance process. Newcomb offered 17 men entering college free rent as long as they recorded their attitudes, likes, and dislikes each week. The study led to a number of principles of attraction that lead to the formation of groups both elaborated by Newcomb, and then later by other researchers.

Proximity Principle

The Proximity Principle is the tendency for individuals to associate, befriend, and be attracted to those who are nearby. Newcomb assigned each of the young women in his Bennington College study into their rooms at random. Therefore, they were each paired with a roommate at random. Despite the random assignment most of the roommates were close friends by the end of the study.

Elaboration Principle

The Elaboration Principle is the tendency for groups to form when smaller groups (e.g. dyads and triads) develop ties and linkages to form larger more functional groups. Essentially, core group members tend to reach out and create new acquaintances, allowing the group to expand through the Elaboration Principle.

Other principles of attraction These additional principles that grew out of Newcomb's initial work have been worked on mostly by other researchers, and some have had conflicting findings within the research. while other studies have found close groups will often have complementary, but dissimilar needs.

Reciprocity Principle The tendency for individuals to respond favorably when others accept them or act approvingly towards them. Individuals tend to reciprocate liking with liking.

Minmax Principle The tendency for individuals, as rational creatures, to seek out groups that offer the cost and the greatest. Newcomb, Theodore M., Ralph H. Turner, and Philip E. Converse: Social Psychology: The Study of Human Interaction (1965) Newcomb, Theodore M.: Persistence and change: Bennington College and its Students After 25 Years (1967) Newcomb, Theodore M.: Personality and social change: Attitude Formation in a Student Community (1943) Newcomb, Theodore M.: Experimental Social Psychology (1937)