Carolyn Sherif 19221982

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Carolyn Sherif(1922-1982)

• Michael Anderson
• Elizabeth Risch
• David Ware

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Learning Objectives

• Know the historical antecedents that influenced
  Sherif
• Understand the zeitgeist in which her ideas were
  developed
• Know the obstacle/struggles she faced
• Become familiar with selected works
• Identify the strengths weaknesses of her
  ideas/theories
• Understand her influence on the field

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Overview

• Personal/Professional Background
• Historical Background
• Review of selected works
• Summary integration

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Learning Objectives

• Historical Antecedents
• Zeitgeist
• Professional/Personal Struggles

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Her Early Life

• Born June 26, 1922 in Indiana. Her father was a
  professor at Purdue University and mother was a
  high-school science teacher
• Sang on radio show in high school
• Attended Purdue in an experimental program for
  female science majors
• Financed college working at a bookstore, a radio
  station, and as a paid singer in a church quartet

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Graduate Studies

• In undergrad, she wrote a play the US treasury
  used to sell war bonds
• Curious about the effect this play had on
  audiences attitudes towards the war led to her
  interest in psychology
• Obtained Masters degree in psychology at
  University of Iowa
• Opportunities due to lack of men (off to war)

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Early Career

• Offered a job at an RCA plant to decrease
  turnover and increase attendance
• She declined
• 1st job- Collecting data on potential movies at
  Audience Research Inc. at Princeton
• She was not impressed!
• Monday morning declaration of love

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Back to school

• Primary interest in attitudinal research
• Desire to work with Muzafer Sherif
• Princeton does not allow women to enroll
• Works with Sherif while commuting to Columbia
  University in New York
• Muzafer is very prominent at this time
• Research with Muzafer became her focus

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Married Life

• Dec. 1945- She and Muzafer are married
• Luckily he had been released from Turkish prison
• 1947- Has first daughter
• 1947-1958- Works with Muzafer at University of
  Oklahoma
• 1950- has second daughter
• 1955- has third daughter
• 1958- begins doctoral work at University of Texas

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Professional Career

• 1961- earned Ph.D. from University of Oklahoma
• 1961-1965- published four books with Muzafer
• Teaches Oklahoma Medical School and Sociology
  Dept. of OU
• 1965- Penn State offered Tenure track positions
  to both Carolyn and Muzafer

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Effect of the Womens Movement

• To me, the atmosphere created by the womens
  movement was like breathing fresh air after years
  of gasping for breath. If anyone believes that I
  credit it too much for changes in my own life, I
  have only this reply I know I did not become a
  significantly better social psychologist between
  1969 and 1972, but I surely was treated as a
  better social psychologist. (Sherif, 1983)

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Effect of the Womens Movement

• Research contributions during 1945-1961 not well
  documented
• A careful historian will recognize that both of
  us were involved in everything published under
  the name Sherif after 1945. In several instances,
  when Muzafer asked me to appear as co-author,
  instead of in footnote or preface, I declined, a
  tendency that persisted into the 1960s. I would
  not do so again. I now believe that the world
  which viewed me as a wife who probably typed her
  husbands papers (which I did not) defined me to
  myself more than I realized.

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Effect of the Womens Movement

• President of APA division 35, Psychology of Women
  in 1979
• Orientation in Social Psychology
• Book on the effect of ones social status
• Study and publish on gender
• Bias in Psychology, 1994
• Recognition of her work
• Fellow of APA, 1976
• Distinguished publication award, 1979
• Distinguished contributions to Education in
  Psychology, 1982

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Historical Antecedents

• Male dominated academia
• Unable to attend Princeton
• WWII
• Personal interest in psychology
• Created opportunities for women
• Shaped her research interests
• Womens Movement
• Led her to research on gender and social status
• Gained recognition for works

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Learning Objectives

• Selected works
• Strengths weakness of her research/theories
• Influence on the field

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Daves Presentation
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Sherif (1973)

• Social distance - assesses relative
  intimacy/rejection between members of diverse
  groups
• Studied degree of ego-involvement of AA students
  in inter-racial interaction as a function of
  previous/current white contacts
• Hypothesis - lower the probability of AA-white
  interaction stronger the ties with AA reference
  groups, the lower AA students ego-involvement in
  interaction

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Method

• Participants judge advisability that an AA
  student decide to interact with white individuals
  in a series of situations classify into
  categories
• Persons highly involved use fewer categories than
  those less involved
• Latitude of noncommitment - categories left
  unlabeled size inversely related to issue
  involvement

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Results
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Discussion

• Attitudes are related to ones reference groups
  interaction situations encountered
• AA social fraternity served as insulating
  function
• Own categories method holds promise for truly
  social-psychological study of individual attitudes

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Influence on Field

• Developed singular, coherent approach to social
  psychology
• Argued psychology perpetuated myths about womens
  inferior position
• Argued human behavior best understood by studying
  the entire context
• Integrated study of specific attitudes with
  overall structure of self-system
• Demonstrated that as individuals make personal
  commitments, they develop categories for
  perceiving social world

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Summary

• Change in attitudes during WWII spawned interest
  in attitudes
• Sherif (1973)
• Personal struggles and womens movement led to
  interest in gender issues
• Sherif (1982)
• First psychologist to integrate attitudes with
  self-concept
• Inspired future research on gender-related issues

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References

• Harvey, O. J. (1989). Muzafer Sherif (1906-1988),
  American Psychologist, 44, 1325-1326.
• Koesterer, M. (n.d.). Dr. Carolyn Wood Sherif
  (1922-1982). Unpublished manuscript.
• Sherif, C. W. (1992). Bias in psychology. In J.
  S. Bohan. (Ed.), Seldom Seen, Rarely Heard
  Womens Place in Psychology (pp. 107-146).
  Boulder, CO Westview Press.
• Sherif, C. W. (1983). Carolyn Wood Sherif. In
  OConnell, A. N. Russon, N. F. (Eds.), Models
  of Achievement Reflections of Eminent Women in
  Psychology (pp 279-293). New York Columbia
  University Press.
• Sherif, C. W. (1982). Needed concepts in the
  study of gender identity, Psychology of Women
  Quarterly, 6, 375-395.
• Sherif, C. W. (1982). Social and Psychological
  bases of social psychology. In A. G. Kraut (Ed.),
  G. Stanley Hall Lecture Series, Vol. 2 (pp.
  9-72). Washington, D.C. American Psychological
  Association
• Sherif, C. W., Kelly, M., Rodgers, H. L., Sarup,
  G., Tittler, B. (1973). Personal involvement,
  social judgment, and action, Journal of
  Personality and Social Psychology, 27, 311-328.
• Sherif, C. W., (1973). Social distance as
  categorization of intergroup interaction.
  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67,
  148-156.
• Sherif, M., Sherif, C. W. (1967). The
  adolescent in his group in its setting. In M.
  Sherif (Ed.), Social Interaction (pp. 247-312).
  Chicago, IL Aldine Publishing Co.