Hadley Cantril
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Albert Hadley Cantril, Jr. (16 June 1906 – 28 May 1969) was an American
psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the pre ...
from the
Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
, who expanded the scope of the field. Cantril made "major contributions in psychology of propaganda; public opinion research; applications of psychology and psychological research to national policy, international understanding, and communication; developmental psychology; psychology of social movements; measurement and scaling; humanistic psychology; the psychology of perception; and, basic to all of them, the analysis of human behavior from the transactional point of view." His influence is felt in education, law, philosophy, politics and psychiatry. "Hadley Cantril, Princeton psychologist, is representative of most quantitative scholars of social influence who, while holding their political commitments close to the vest, nevertheless saw themselves clearly in the ranks of reformers loosely attached to the
progressive movement Progressivism holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political action. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, techn ...
…. Focus on social process and a psychological view of people put the academic scientists of society in a frame of mind to assume the
polis ''Polis'' (, ; grc-gre, πόλις, ), plural ''poleis'' (, , ), literally means "city" in Greek. In Ancient Greece, it originally referred to an administrative and religious city center, as distinct from the rest of the city. Later, it also ...
languished chiefly because of inaction on the part of enlightened administrators."


Biography

Cantril was born in
Hyrum, Utah Hyrum is a city in Cache County, Utah, United States. The population was 7,609 at the 2010 census, with an estimated population of 8,403 in 2018. It is included in the Logan, Utah–Idaho (partial) Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Hyrum ...
in 1906 and first studied at
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...
, graduating
Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...
in 1928. He did graduate study in Munich and Berlin, then studied at
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
graduating with
Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
in
psychology Psychology is the science, scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immens ...
in 1931. He was hired as an instructor by Dartmouth and joined the
Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
faculty in 1936. The next year he became president of the
Institute for Propaganda Analysis The Institute for Propaganda Analysis (IPA) was a U.S.-based organization operating from 1937 to 1942, composed of social scientists, opinion leaders, historians, educators, and journalists. Created by Kirtley Mather, Edward A. Filene, and Clyde ...
and one of the founding editors of ''
Public Opinion Quarterly ''Public Opinion Quarterly'' is an academic journal published by Oxford University Press for the American Association for Public Opinion Research, covering communication studies and political science. It was established in 1937 and according to th ...
''. Later he became chairman of the Princeton University Department of Psychology.F. P. Kilpatrick (November 1969) "Hadley Cantril – The Transactional Point of View", Journal of Individual Psychology 25: 219–25, reprinted as Epilogue, pages 229–34, in Albert H. Cantril, editor (1988) ''Psychology, Humanism and Scientific Inquiry'', Transaction Books Cantril was a member of the Princeton Radio Research Project. The Project looked at the reaction to Orson Welles' radio drama
The War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by ''Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan (magazine), Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appear ...
and published a study accenting the public's disturbance. In 1940 he served as a consultant to the
Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs The Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, later known as the Office for Inter-American Affairs, was a United States agency promoting inter-American cooperation (Pan-Americanism) during the 1940s, especially in commercial and econ ...
. Cantril's later psychological work included collaboration with Adelbert Ames, Jr. developing a transactional method for studying human perception, as well as other research in humanistic psychology.


Public opinion research

Though trained as a psychologist, Cantril's most important work concerned the then-new topic of
public opinion Public opinion is the collective opinion on a specific topic or voting intention relevant to a society. It is the people's views on matters affecting them. Etymology The term "public opinion" was derived from the French ', which was first use ...
research. Influenced initially by the success of
George Gallup George Horace Gallup (November 18, 1901 – July 26, 1984) was an American pioneer of survey sampling techniques and inventor of the Gallup poll, a successful statistical method of survey sampling for measuring public opinion. Life and caree ...
and
Elmo Roper Elmo Burns Roper Jr. (July 31, 1900 in Hebron, Nebraska – April 30, 1971 in Redding, Connecticut) was an American pollster known for his pioneering work in market research and opinion polling, alongside friends-cum-rivals Archibald Crossl ...
during the
1936 presidential election The following elections occurred in the year 1936. Asia * 1936 Ceylonese State Council election Europe * 1936 Belgian general election * 1936 Bielsko municipal election * 1936 Danish Landsting election * 1936 Finnish parliamentary election * ...
, Cantril sought to apply their systematic polling technique to academic
social psychology Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the ...
. While Cantril was department chairman he became a presidential advisor:
Cantril's small-scale program at Princeton became more extensive in September 1940 when
Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...
,
FDR Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
's Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, asked the Princeton psychologist to "set up mechanisms which would gauge public opinion in
Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...
." In cooperation with
Gallup Gallup may refer to: * Gallup, Inc., a firm founded by George Gallup, well known for its opinion poll * Gallup (surname), a surname *Gallup, New Mexico, a city in New Mexico, United States ** Gallup station, an Amtrak train in downtown Gallup, New ...
, and with funds from the Office of Emergency Management, Cantril established an ostensibly independent research organization, American Social Surveys. He recruited his friend
Leonard Doob Leonard William Doob (March 3, 1909 – March 29, 2000) was an American academic who worked as the Sterling Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Yale University and was a pioneering figure in the fields of cognitive and social psychology, propaganda ...
, and another researcher Lloyd Free, to analyse Nazi propaganda coming into Latin America. Through Rockefeller's office, the results of Cantril's program were brought to the attention of FDR. The president asked Cantril to monitor public sentiment on avoiding war versus aiding Britain. Cantril duly kept tabs on views about aiding England and on the public's willingness to change U.S. neutrality laws in favor of Britain.J. Michael Sproule (1997) ''Propaganda and Democracy'', page 184,
Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pr ...
In 1942 Cantril conducted a small-sample survey of
Vichy Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais. It is a spa and resort town and in World War II was the capital of ...
officials in Morocco, prior to
Operation Torch Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – 16 November 1942) was an Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa while al ...
, that revealed the intensity of the anti-British sentiment of the French forces there. This information influenced the disposition of forces during the operation, with American troops landing near Casablanca and mixed forces at Oran and Algiers.John Gray Geer (2004) ''Public opinion and polling around the world: a historical encyclopedia'', Volume 1, ABC-CLIO According to
George Gallup George Horace Gallup (November 18, 1901 – July 26, 1984) was an American pioneer of survey sampling techniques and inventor of the Gallup poll, a successful statistical method of survey sampling for measuring public opinion. Life and caree ...
, "On the basis of his opinion studies, antriladvised Presidents Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and Kennnedy at critical points in history. Judged by subsequent events his advice was exceptionally sound." In 1955 he and Lloyd Free founded the Institute for International Social Research (IISR). The IISR was often asked by United States government agencies to conduct small-sample public opinion polls in foreign countries. Notably, Cantril and Free conducted a poll of Cuba during 1960 demonstrating great support for
Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 20 ...
, which was overlooked during the presidential transition between Eisenhower and Kennedy and read only after the
Bay of Pigs Invasion The Bay of Pigs Invasion (, sometimes called ''Invasión de Playa Girón'' or ''Batalla de Playa Girón'' after the Playa Girón) was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in 1961 by Cuban exiles, covertly fin ...
fiasco."Lloyd A. Free, 88, is dead; Revealed Political Paradox",
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
, November 14, 1996.
Cantril's most-cited work is ''The Pattern of Human Concerns,'' notable for the development of the self-anchoring scale (also known as "Cantril's Ladder"). Cantril and Free also first discovered the paradox that American voters tend to oppose "big government" in general while supporting many specific liberal
social program Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet Basic needs, basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refe ...
s. During the late 1950s, Cantril served on the International Objectives and Strategies panel of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund's Special Studies Project.


Works

* 1934: ''Social Psychology of Everyday Life'' * 1935:(with
Gordon Allport Gordon Willard Allport (November 11, 1897 – October 9, 1967) was an American psychologist. Allport was one of the first psychologists to focus on the study of the personality, and is often referred to as one of the founding figures of personali ...

Psychology of Radio
from
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
* 1939: ''Industrial Conflict: a Psychological Interpretation'', * 1940: '' The Invasion from Mars, a Study in the Psychology of Panic'' * 1940: ''America Faces the War, a Study in Public Opinion'' * 1941
Psychology of Social Movements
from
HathiTrust HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries including content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digitized locall ...
* 1944
Gauging Public Opinion
Princeton University Press, via Internet Archive * 1947: (with
Muzafer Sherif Muzafer Sherif (born Muzaffer Şerif Başoğlu; July 29, 1906 – October 16, 1988) was a Turkish-American social psychologist. He helped develop social judgment theory and realistic conflict theory. Sherif was a founder of modern social psych ...

Psychology of ego-involvements : social attitudes & identifications
via HathiTrust * 1950: ''The "Why" of Man's Experience'' * 1950: ''Tensions that cause wars (a report for UNESCO)'' * 1951: (with Mildred Strunk
''Public Opinion, 1935–1946''
polls from the USA, Europe and Canada, via Internet Archive * 1953: (with William Buchanan) ''How Nations See Each Other, a study in public opinion'' * 1954: (with William H. Ittelson) ''Perception: a Transactional Approach'' * 1956: ''On Understanding the French Left'' * 1958
Faith, Hope, and Heresy: the Psychology of the Protest Voter
via HathiTrust * 1958
Politics of Despair
via HathiTrust * 1960: ''Reflections on the Human Venture'' * 1960: ''Soviet Leaders and Mastery over Man'' * 1961: ''Human Nature and Political Systems'' * 1965: ''Pattern of Human Concerns'' * 1967: (with L. A. Free) ''Political beliefs of Americans; a study of public opinion'' * 1967: ''The Human Dimension: Experiences in Policy Research'' * 1988: (Albert H. Cantril, editor) ''Psychology, Humanism, and Scientific Inquiry: the Selected Essays of Hadley Cantril''


References


Hadley Cantril
from
Roper Center for Public Opinion Research __NOTOC__ The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at Cornell University is the world's oldest archive of social science data and the largest specializing in data from public opinion surveys. It's collection includes over 24,000 datasets and ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cantril, Hadley 1906 births 1969 deaths Dartmouth College alumni Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Princeton University faculty Humanistic psychologists Pollsters People from Hyrum, Utah