Leonard W. Doob
Encyclopedia
Leonard William Doob was the Sterling Professor
Emeritus of Psychology
at Yale University
, was a pioneering figure in the fields of cogntive
and social psychology
, propaganda
and communication studies
, as well as conflict resolution
. He served as Director of Overseas Intelligence for the Office of War Information in World War II
and also wrote several interesting works intersecting cognition
, psychology
and philosophy
.
He is less well-known today but his work continues to remain unique and relevant. If Harold D. Lasswell, the father of political psychology
, was the political scientist most associated with the study of propaganda
in the 20th century, from the 1930s onward, Leonard Doob became the leading expert on the psychology
of the phenomenon. Concentrating on the mental and social dimensions of mass persuasion
, Doob's trail-blazing work broke ground in the study of propaganda
, serving as foundation for further study today.
, Professor Doob received a B.A. from Dartmouth College
in 1929 and an M.A. from Duke University
the following year. From 1930 to 1933, he studied psychology
and sociology
at the University of Frankfurt in Germany
, taught at Dartmouth and then received a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1934. His dissertation, started in Germany, was a study of news propaganda
.
He was an accomplished professor and scholar of Yale University
from 1935 until resigning in 1999. In that time, he worked for the OWI during World War II
, conducted several cross-cultural analyses
and developed conflict resolution
strategies in Africa and other conflict zones from the 1960s through the 80s, also publishing several compilations of African poetry during that time, and pioneered other works in psychology and philosophy
up to the end of his long and prolific career. He was most active shortly before his death with his most recent book (Pursuing Perfection: People, Groups and Society) having been published in 1999.
Leonard Doob died on March 29, 2000 in Hamden, Connecticut
, predeceased by his wife, Eveline Bates Doob, and leaving his sons, Christopher, Anthony, and Nicholas, and grandchildren, Gabriella, Joshua and Crockett.
social psychologist, Professor Doob served as Executive Editor of The Journal of Social Psychology for over a third of a century, resigning shortly before his death in 2000. He joined the Yale faculty in 1934. In 1935 he published his first major, and most well-known work, Propaganda: Its Psychology and Techniques. A book widely used by students in American colleges and universities before World War II. The book represented an effort to illuminate the process by which propaganda changed attitudes, with a view toward helping to induce some resistance to the phenomenon, concluding with a survey of such leading propagandists as Ivy Lee
, Edward Bernays
, and the Communist Party
, and explored newspaper, radio, movies, and other channels of communication.
As the storm of Nazi Germany
was gathering, Doob was quick to realize, and well positioned to do something about, raising awareness amongst scholars, government officials, and the general public to increasing foreign propaganda. He conducted several communication studies, some of which analyzed rumors spreading within several communities in the US and Canada
. This effort would eventually culminate in his publication of Joseph Goebbels
's Principles of Propaganda in 1950. As World War II got under way, he served as researcher, policy chief and director of the Bureau of Overseas Intelligence within the Office of War Information (OWI). Here he was instrumental in developing, applying and improving social scientific methodology to the work of analyzing propaganda
.
After the war, Doob returned to academic life, publishing many books and articles on aggression and frustration, attitudes
, communication
, and persuasion
, before moving into cross-cultural analyses of developing countries and investigating previously unexplored topics in psychology. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Sciences in 1966, also served as chair of Yale's Council on African Studies and as director of the Division of Social Studies before retiring in 1977. He continued to teach and publish before resigning shortly before his death in 2000.
meant understanding communications and the behavioral sciences. Doob set out the mental context of propaganda by discussing motivation
, attitudes
, stereotype
s, personality
, and values. His psychological interpretation went to great lengths to describe the factors that influence and construct human behavior.
He explained much of public opinion
to stem from enduring collective attitudes and sentiments, learnt through socialization
. While noting that propaganda was not automatically successful, he observed that people were susceptible to suggestion, especially from prestigious sources, and thus the symbol
s of propaganda might arouse and recombine pre-existing attitudes. Propaganda sometimes resulted from the explicit intentions of a persuader but also could be unintentional, as when educators indirectly transmitted the social heritage of a culture. Drawing on Freud
, Lasswell
, and others, Doob examined the psychology of suggestion
created by stimuli
and stimulus-situations. Added to the exploration of attitudes
, belief
s, suggestions and associations, Doob, appreciating the power in the personalization of the process, also explored how stimulating aspects of individual identity
, emotion
, pride
, guilt
and shame
can influence decision making
, behavior
, and attitudes.
He defined propaganda in 1948 as "the attempt to affect the personalities and to control the behavior of individuals towards desired ends." He saw the objective of propaganda as action, not merely readiness to respond. Action, and just sentiment and attitudes, are the target. The learned attitude - the pre-action response - most affects behavior. Propaganda is concerned with learned attitudes insofar as they predispose and influence a desired response. The suggestive power of words depend on the primary and secondary meanings and upon the pre-existing attitudes which they arouse. His study of newspapers shed light on this definition, demonstrating how headlines have a pronounced influence on the way stories are perceived by readers. If individuals are controlled through the use of suggestion, then regardless of intention or source, the process may be called propaganda. In an essay he wrote in 1989, Doob came to believe a clear-cut definition of propaganda was neither possible nor desirable because of the complexity of issues related to behavior in society and differences in times and cultures.
The essential ingredients of successful propaganda, for Doob, contained three elements: repetition, cultural congruence, and flattery. Utilizing these three components, if the target is known and objectives clear, then the right acts combined with the right words, at the right time, can carry tremendous leverage.
Ultimately, Leonard W. Doob was no advocate for propaganda, like his contemporary, Edward Bernays
was. Instead, he viewed propaganda, like others such as Robert K. Merton
and Jacques Ellul
, through a critical lens, as a form of social control
. He recognized its increasing role in modern forms of power and his analysis was intended to increase this awareness in order to minimize its manipulation of society, politics, and culture. In the process of research, however, Doob brought to light the organic relationship that exists between modes of communication systems and the development of cultures and their psychology. Like many, if not all, of his fellow theorists on the subject, he recognized propaganda as an integral component of modernization
.
, modernity
, and the role of media and communication systems
on different developed and developing societies. He sought to explain why people modernize and what happens to them when they do, developing several methodological indicators to do so. He worked on developing scales of assaying psychological modernization amongst tribal societies in Africa, concluding that acculturation
tends to lead to increased aggression and discontent and producing one of the most comprehensive lists of African communicative forms that exists to this day.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s several scholars of international relations
developed conflict management
training workshops, the purpose of which was to support a process towards peace in the context of intractable conflicts. Doob began experimenting with the application of human relations training methods to destructive conflicts in the Horn of Africa
, Cyprus
and Northern Ireland
, helping to pioneer a third-party intermediary approach to conflict resolution
. John Burton, Leonard Doob, and Herbert Kelman, among others, conducted "controlled communication" or problem solving workshops with high-level representatives of groups involved in protracted communal disputes in these societies.
Sterling Professor
A Sterling Professorship is the highest academic rank at Yale University, awarded to a tenured faculty member considered one of the best in his or her field...
Emeritus of Psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, was a pioneering figure in the fields of cogntive
Cognition
In science, cognition refers to mental processes. These processes include attention, remembering, producing and understanding language, solving problems, and making decisions. Cognition is studied in various disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science...
and social psychology
Social psychology
Social psychology is the scientific study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. By this definition, scientific refers to the empirical method of investigation. The terms thoughts, feelings, and behaviors include all...
, propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
and communication studies
Communication studies
Communication Studies is an academic field that deals with processes of communication, commonly defined as the sharing of symbols over distances in space and time. Hence, communication studies encompasses a wide range of topics and contexts ranging from face-to-face conversation to speeches to mass...
, as well as conflict resolution
Conflict resolution
Conflict resolution is conceptualized as the methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of some social conflict. Often, committed group members attempt to resolve group conflicts by actively communicating information about their conflicting motives or ideologies to the rest...
. He served as Director of Overseas Intelligence for the Office of War Information in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and also wrote several interesting works intersecting cognition
Cognition
In science, cognition refers to mental processes. These processes include attention, remembering, producing and understanding language, solving problems, and making decisions. Cognition is studied in various disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science...
, psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
and philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
.
He is less well-known today but his work continues to remain unique and relevant. If Harold D. Lasswell, the father of political psychology
Political psychology
Political psychology is an interdisciplinary academic field dedicated to understanding political science, politicians and political behavior. Psychological theories of behavior including; belief, motivation, conflict, perception, cognition, information processing, learning strategies, socialization...
, was the political scientist most associated with the study of propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
in the 20th century, from the 1930s onward, Leonard Doob became the leading expert on the psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
of the phenomenon. Concentrating on the mental and social dimensions of mass persuasion
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
, Doob's trail-blazing work broke ground in the study of propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
, serving as foundation for further study today.
Biography
Born on March 3, 1909 in New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Professor Doob received a B.A. from Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
in 1929 and an M.A. from Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
the following year. From 1930 to 1933, he studied psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
and sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
at the University of Frankfurt in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, taught at Dartmouth and then received a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1934. His dissertation, started in Germany, was a study of news propaganda
News propaganda
News propaganda is a type of propaganda covertly packaged as credible news, but without sufficient transparency concerning the news item's source and the motivation behind its release...
.
He was an accomplished professor and scholar of Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
from 1935 until resigning in 1999. In that time, he worked for the OWI during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, conducted several cross-cultural analyses
Cross-cultural studies
Cross-cultural studies, sometimes called Holocultural Studies, is a specialization in anthropology and sister sciences that uses field data from many societies to examine the scope of human behavior and test hypotheses about human behavior and culture. Cross-cultural studies is the third form of...
and developed conflict resolution
Conflict resolution
Conflict resolution is conceptualized as the methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of some social conflict. Often, committed group members attempt to resolve group conflicts by actively communicating information about their conflicting motives or ideologies to the rest...
strategies in Africa and other conflict zones from the 1960s through the 80s, also publishing several compilations of African poetry during that time, and pioneered other works in psychology and philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
up to the end of his long and prolific career. He was most active shortly before his death with his most recent book (Pursuing Perfection: People, Groups and Society) having been published in 1999.
Leonard Doob died on March 29, 2000 in Hamden, Connecticut
Hamden, Connecticut
Hamden is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant." Hamden is home to Quinnipiac University. The population was 58,180 according to the Census Bureau's 2005 estimates...
, predeceased by his wife, Eveline Bates Doob, and leaving his sons, Christopher, Anthony, and Nicholas, and grandchildren, Gabriella, Joshua and Crockett.
Career
A self-described liberalLiberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
social psychologist, Professor Doob served as Executive Editor of The Journal of Social Psychology for over a third of a century, resigning shortly before his death in 2000. He joined the Yale faculty in 1934. In 1935 he published his first major, and most well-known work, Propaganda: Its Psychology and Techniques. A book widely used by students in American colleges and universities before World War II. The book represented an effort to illuminate the process by which propaganda changed attitudes, with a view toward helping to induce some resistance to the phenomenon, concluding with a survey of such leading propagandists as Ivy Lee
Ivy Lee
Ivy Ledbetter Lee is considered by some to be the founder of modern public relations. The term Public Relations is to be found for the first time in the preface of the 1897 Yearbook of Railway Literature....
, Edward Bernays
Edward Bernays
Edward Louis Bernays , was an Austrian-American pioneer in the field of public relations and propaganda along with Ivy Lee, referred to in his obituary as "the father of public relations"...
, and the Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
, and explored newspaper, radio, movies, and other channels of communication.
As the storm of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
was gathering, Doob was quick to realize, and well positioned to do something about, raising awareness amongst scholars, government officials, and the general public to increasing foreign propaganda. He conducted several communication studies, some of which analyzed rumors spreading within several communities in the US and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. This effort would eventually culminate in his publication of Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
's Principles of Propaganda in 1950. As World War II got under way, he served as researcher, policy chief and director of the Bureau of Overseas Intelligence within the Office of War Information (OWI). Here he was instrumental in developing, applying and improving social scientific methodology to the work of analyzing propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
.
After the war, Doob returned to academic life, publishing many books and articles on aggression and frustration, attitudes
Attitude (psychology)
An attitude is a hypothetical construct that represents an individual's degree of like or dislike for something. Attitudes are generally positive or negative views of a person, place, thing, or event— this is often referred to as the attitude object...
, communication
Communication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
, and persuasion
Persuasion
Persuasion is a form of social influence. It is the process of guiding or bringing oneself or another toward the adoption of an idea, attitude, or action by rational and symbolic means.- Methods :...
, before moving into cross-cultural analyses of developing countries and investigating previously unexplored topics in psychology. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Sciences in 1966, also served as chair of Yale's Council on African Studies and as director of the Division of Social Studies before retiring in 1977. He continued to teach and publish before resigning shortly before his death in 2000.
Psychology and propaganda
Doob's approach believed understanding propagandaPropaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
meant understanding communications and the behavioral sciences. Doob set out the mental context of propaganda by discussing motivation
Motivation
Motivation is the driving force by which humans achieve their goals. Motivation is said to be intrinsic or extrinsic. The term is generally used for humans but it can also be used to describe the causes for animal behavior as well. This article refers to human motivation...
, attitudes
Attitude (psychology)
An attitude is a hypothetical construct that represents an individual's degree of like or dislike for something. Attitudes are generally positive or negative views of a person, place, thing, or event— this is often referred to as the attitude object...
, stereotype
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
s, personality
Personality psychology
Personality psychology is a branch of psychology that studies personality and individual differences. Its areas of focus include:* Constructing a coherent picture of the individual and his or her major psychological processes...
, and values. His psychological interpretation went to great lengths to describe the factors that influence and construct human behavior.
He explained much of public opinion
Public opinion
Public opinion is the aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs held by the adult population. Public opinion can also be defined as the complex collection of opinions of many different people and the sum of all their views....
to stem from enduring collective attitudes and sentiments, learnt through socialization
Socialization
Socialization is a term used by sociologists, social psychologists, anthropologists, political scientists and educationalists to refer to the process of inheriting and disseminating norms, customs and ideologies...
. While noting that propaganda was not automatically successful, he observed that people were susceptible to suggestion, especially from prestigious sources, and thus the symbol
Symbol
A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...
s of propaganda might arouse and recombine pre-existing attitudes. Propaganda sometimes resulted from the explicit intentions of a persuader but also could be unintentional, as when educators indirectly transmitted the social heritage of a culture. Drawing on Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
, Lasswell
Harold Lasswell
Harold Dwight Lasswell was a leading American political scientist and communications theorist. He was a member of the Chicago school of sociology and was a professor at Yale University in law. He was a President of the American Political Science Association and World Academy of Art and Science...
, and others, Doob examined the psychology of suggestion
Suggestion
Suggestion is the psychological process by which one person guides the thoughts, feelings, or behaviour of another. Nineteenth century writers on psychology such as William James used the words "suggest" and "suggestion" in senses close to those they have in common speech—one idea was said to...
created by stimuli
Stimulus (psychology)
In psychology, stimuli are energy patterns which are registered by the senses. In behaviorism and related stimulus–response theories, stimuli constitute the basis for behavior, whereas in perceptual psychology they constitute the basis for perception.In the second half of the 19th century, the...
and stimulus-situations. Added to the exploration of attitudes
Attitude (psychology)
An attitude is a hypothetical construct that represents an individual's degree of like or dislike for something. Attitudes are generally positive or negative views of a person, place, thing, or event— this is often referred to as the attitude object...
, belief
Belief
Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true.-Belief, knowledge and epistemology:The terms belief and knowledge are used differently in philosophy....
s, suggestions and associations, Doob, appreciating the power in the personalization of the process, also explored how stimulating aspects of individual identity
Identity (social science)
Identity is a term used to describe a person's conception and expression of their individuality or group affiliations . The term is used more specifically in psychology and sociology, and is given a great deal of attention in social psychology...
, emotion
Emotion
Emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical and environmental influences. In humans, emotion fundamentally involves "physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience." Emotion is associated with mood,...
, pride
Pride
Pride is an inwardly directed emotion that carries two common meanings. With a negative connotation, pride refers to an inflated sense of one's personal status or accomplishments, often used synonymously with hubris...
, guilt
Guilt
Guilt is the state of being responsible for the commission of an offense. It is also a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes—accurately or not—that he or she has violated a moral standard, and bears significant responsibility for that...
and shame
Shame
Shame is, variously, an affect, emotion, cognition, state, or condition. The roots of the word shame are thought to derive from an older word meaning to cover; as such, covering oneself, literally or figuratively, is a natural expression of shame....
can influence decision making
Decision making
Decision making can be regarded as the mental processes resulting in the selection of a course of action among several alternative scenarios. Every decision making process produces a final choice. The output can be an action or an opinion of choice.- Overview :Human performance in decision terms...
, behavior
Behavior
Behavior or behaviour refers to the actions and mannerisms made by organisms, systems, or artificial entities in conjunction with its environment, which includes the other systems or organisms around as well as the physical environment...
, and attitudes.
He defined propaganda in 1948 as "the attempt to affect the personalities and to control the behavior of individuals towards desired ends." He saw the objective of propaganda as action, not merely readiness to respond. Action, and just sentiment and attitudes, are the target. The learned attitude - the pre-action response - most affects behavior. Propaganda is concerned with learned attitudes insofar as they predispose and influence a desired response. The suggestive power of words depend on the primary and secondary meanings and upon the pre-existing attitudes which they arouse. His study of newspapers shed light on this definition, demonstrating how headlines have a pronounced influence on the way stories are perceived by readers. If individuals are controlled through the use of suggestion, then regardless of intention or source, the process may be called propaganda. In an essay he wrote in 1989, Doob came to believe a clear-cut definition of propaganda was neither possible nor desirable because of the complexity of issues related to behavior in society and differences in times and cultures.
The essential ingredients of successful propaganda, for Doob, contained three elements: repetition, cultural congruence, and flattery. Utilizing these three components, if the target is known and objectives clear, then the right acts combined with the right words, at the right time, can carry tremendous leverage.
Ultimately, Leonard W. Doob was no advocate for propaganda, like his contemporary, Edward Bernays
Edward Bernays
Edward Louis Bernays , was an Austrian-American pioneer in the field of public relations and propaganda along with Ivy Lee, referred to in his obituary as "the father of public relations"...
was. Instead, he viewed propaganda, like others such as Robert K. Merton
Robert K. Merton
Robert King Merton was a distinguished American sociologist. He spent most of his career teaching at Columbia University, where he attained the rank of University Professor...
and Jacques Ellul
Jacques Ellul
Jacques Ellul was a French philosopher, law professor, sociologist, lay theologian, and Christian anarchist. He wrote several books about the "technological society" and the interaction between Christianity and politics....
, through a critical lens, as a form of social control
Social control
Social control refers generally to societal and political mechanisms or processes that regulate individual and group behavior, leading to conformity and compliance to the rules of a given society, state, or social group. Many mechanisms of social control are cross-cultural, if only in the control...
. He recognized its increasing role in modern forms of power and his analysis was intended to increase this awareness in order to minimize its manipulation of society, politics, and culture. In the process of research, however, Doob brought to light the organic relationship that exists between modes of communication systems and the development of cultures and their psychology. Like many, if not all, of his fellow theorists on the subject, he recognized propaganda as an integral component of modernization
Modernization
In the social sciences, modernization or modernisation refers to a model of an evolutionary transition from a 'pre-modern' or 'traditional' to a 'modern' society. The teleology of modernization is described in social evolutionism theories, existing as a template that has been generally followed by...
.
Conflict resolution
Doob also studied the psychological dimensions of nationalismNationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
, modernity
Modernity
Modernity typically refers to a post-traditional, post-medieval historical period, one marked by the move from feudalism toward capitalism, industrialization, secularization, rationalization, the nation-state and its constituent institutions and forms of surveillance...
, and the role of media and communication systems
Media (communication)
In communications, media are the storage and transmission channels or tools used to store and deliver information or data...
on different developed and developing societies. He sought to explain why people modernize and what happens to them when they do, developing several methodological indicators to do so. He worked on developing scales of assaying psychological modernization amongst tribal societies in Africa, concluding that acculturation
Acculturation
Acculturation explains the process of cultural and psychological change that results following meeting between cultures. The effects of acculturation can be seen at multiple levels in both interacting cultures. At the group level, acculturation often results in changes to culture, customs, and...
tends to lead to increased aggression and discontent and producing one of the most comprehensive lists of African communicative forms that exists to this day.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s several scholars of international relations
International relations
International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
developed conflict management
Conflict management
Conflict management involves implementing strategies to limit the negative aspects of conflict and to increase the positive aspects of conflict at a level equal to or higher than where the conflict is taking place. Furthermore, the aim of conflict management is to enhance learning and group outcomes...
training workshops, the purpose of which was to support a process towards peace in the context of intractable conflicts. Doob began experimenting with the application of human relations training methods to destructive conflicts in the Horn of Africa
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa is a peninsula in East Africa that juts hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. It is the easternmost projection of the African continent...
, Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
and Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, helping to pioneer a third-party intermediary approach to conflict resolution
Conflict resolution
Conflict resolution is conceptualized as the methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of some social conflict. Often, committed group members attempt to resolve group conflicts by actively communicating information about their conflicting motives or ideologies to the rest...
. John Burton, Leonard Doob, and Herbert Kelman, among others, conducted "controlled communication" or problem solving workshops with high-level representatives of groups involved in protracted communal disputes in these societies.
Publications
- Propaganda: Their Psychology and Techniques (1935)http://www.rigorousintuition.ca/board/viewtopic.php?t=16565
- Memorandum on Research in Competition and Co-operation. Social Science Research Council, with Mark A. May . (1937)
- Frustration and Aggression (1939)
- The Plans of Men (1940)
- The Meaning of the Term: Pressure Groups in a Democracy (1940)
- Propaganda and Public Opinion (1949)
- The Strategies of Psychological Warfare (1949)
- Goebbel's Principles of Propaganda (1950), reprinted in Propaganda, by Robert Jackell (2000)http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/papers/vp01.cfm?outfit=pmt&folder=715&paper=1143
- Social Psychology: An Analysis of Human Behavior (1952)
- The Use of Different Test items in Nonliterate Societies (1957)http://poq.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/21/4/499
- The Effect of Language on Verbal Expression and Recall (American Anthropologist February, Vol. 59 - 1: 88-100, 1957)http://www.publicanthropology.org/Archive/Aa1957.htm
- On the Nature of Uncivilized and Civilized People (The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease: Volume 126 - Issue 6 - ppg 513-522, 1958) http://journals.lww.com/jonmd/Citation/1958/06000/On_the_Nature_of_Uncivilized_and_Civilized_People.2.aspx
- Becoming More Civilized (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1960)
- Communications in Africa: A search for boundaries (1961)
- South Tyrol: An Introduction to the Psychological Syndrome of Nationalism (1962)http://poq.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/26/2/172
- Contemporary Psychology (1962)
- Nationalism and Patriotism: Its Psychological Foundations (1964)
- "Leaders, Followers, and Attitudes Toward Authority" (Pages 336-56 in Lloyd A. Fallers (ed.), The King's Men: Leadership and Status in Uganda on the Eve of Independence. London: Oxford University Press, 1964)
- Ants Will Not Eat Your Fingers; A Selection of Traditional African Poem (1966)
- Scales for Assaying Psychological Modernization in Africa (Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 31, Nov. 3, 1967)
- A Crocodile Has Me by the Leg: African Poems (1967)
- Just a Few of the Presuppositions and Perplexities Confronting Social Psychological Research in Developing Countries (The Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 24 No. 2, 1968)http://www.spssi.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.viewpage&pageid=662
- Resolving Conflict in Africa: Fermeda Workshop (1970)
- Creative Awakening: the Jewish presence in 20th century
- The Patterning of Time (1971)
- The Impact of a Workshop upon Grass-Roots Leaders in Belfast (Journal of Conflict Resolution, Volume 18, No. 2, 1974)http://jcr.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/18/2/237
- Rationale, Research, and Role Relations in the Stirling Workshop, with Daniel I. Alevy, Barbara B. Bunker, William J. Foltz, Nancy French, Edward B. Klein, and James C. Miller (Journal of Conflict Resolution, Volume 18, No. 2, 1974) http://jcr.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/18/2/276
- Pathways to People (1975)
- Panorama of Evil: Insights from the Behavioral Sciences (1978)
- Ezra Pound Speaking: Radio Speeches of World War II (Greenwood Press, 1978) http://www.english.illinois.edu/MAPS/poets/m_r/pound/radio.htm
- The Peacekeeper's Handbook (Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 22, No. 4, 737-739, 1978) http://jcr.sagepub.com/cgi/pdf_extract/22/4/737
- The Pursuit of Peace (1981)
- Personality, Power, and Authority: A View from The Behavioral Sciences (1983)
- Slightly beyond Skepticism (1987)
- Inevitability: Determinism, Fatalism, and Destiny (Contributions in Psychology) (1988)
- Perceptions of Technological Risks and Benefits (1988)
- Contribution in Ethnic Studies (Number 25. New York: Greenwood Press, 1989)
- "Propaganda", International Encyclopedia of Communications. Ed. Erik Barnouw et al. New York: Oxford UP, Vol. 4. 374-78, 1989)
- The Inconclusive Struggles of Cross-Cultural Psychology
- Hesitation: Impulsivity and Reflection (1990)
- Asian and Pacific Islander Migration to the United States: A Model of New Global Patterns (1992), written with Elliot Robert Barkan
- Intervention: Guides and Perils (1993)
- Sustainers and Sustainability: Attitudes, Attributes, and Actions for Survival (1995)
- The Journal of Psychology Volume 133 Number 3 (1999)
- The Journal of Social Psychology Volume 139 Number 1 (1999)
- Pursuing Perfection: People, Groups and Society (1999)
External links
- Department of Psychology, Yale University - http://www.www.yale.edu/psychology/
- Amazon.com book results for Leonard W. Doob - http://www.amazon.com/s/?rs=&keywords=Leonard%20W.%20Doob&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3ALeonard%20W.%20Doob
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology - APA Online - http://www.apa.org/journals/psp/
- Google Book results for Leonard W. Doob - http://books.google.com/books?ei=eWO-SvaXHYeE-QaOwIXAAQ&ct=result&q=Leonard+W.+Doob&btnG=Search+Books