Milton Rokeach (born in Hrubieszów as Mendel Rokicz, December 27, 1918 – October 25, 1988) was a Polish-born American

social psychologist Social psychology is the methodical study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. Although studying many of the same substantive topics as its counterpart in the field of ...

. He taught at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

, the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

Washington State University Washington State University (WSU, or colloquially Wazzu) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Pullman, Washington, United States. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest Land-grant uni ...

, and the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

. A ''

Review of General Psychology ''Review of General Psychology'' is the quarterly scientific journal of the American Psychological Association Division 1: The Society for general psychology. The journal publishes cross-disciplinary psychological articles that are conceptual, theo ...

'' survey, published in 2002, ranked Rokeach as the 85th most cited psychologist of the 20th century.

Early life

Born to Jewish parents in

Hrubieszów Hrubieszów (; ; , or ) is a town in southeastern Poland, with a population of around 18,212 (2016). It is the capital of Hrubieszów County within the Lublin Voivodeship. Throughout history, the town's culture and architecture was strongly shaped ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, Rokeach emigrated to the United States with his parents at age seven. After graduating from

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

, he received his Ph.D. degree from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, in 1947.

Contributions to psychology

From 1959 to 1961, Rokeach conducted a well-known experiment at the Ypsilanti State Hospital in which he observed the interaction of three mentally ill patients, each of whom believed he was

Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

. The resulting publication, ''

The Three Christs of Ypsilanti ''The Three Christs of Ypsilanti'' (1964) is a book-length psychiatric case study by Milton Rokeach, concerning his experiment on a group of three males with paranoid schizophrenia at Ypsilanti State Hospital in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The book de ...

'', was Rokeach's most famous research in values and beliefs, and was subsequently adapted into a screenplay, a stage play, two operas and a movie. In addition, Rokeach conducted a mid-20th–century study in Southern American, where he tried to determine the basis for

racial prejudice Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race or ethnicity over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination ...

. He found racial prejudice to be inversely related to socio-economic status and thus concluded that such bias is used in an attempt to elevate one's own status.T.L. Brink. (2008) Psychology: A Student Friendly Approach. "Unit 13: Social Psychology." pp. 30

/ref> Rokeach studied long-term attitude change, which earned his ranking as the 26th most frequently cited psychologist at that time in social science abstracts. In the final years of his career, Rokeach wrote ''The Nature of Human Values'' (1973) which served as the test manual for the

Rokeach Value Survey The Rokeach Value Survey (RVS) is a values classification instrument. Developed by social psychologist Milton Rokeach, the instrument is designed for rank-order scaling of 36 values, including 18 terminal and 18 instrumental values. The task for ...

(see values scales). Rokeach also did experimental work in problem-solving, and additional factor analyses on the construction of a scale to measure dogmatism. In the book, he posited that relatively few "terminal human values" are the internal reference points that all people use to formulate attitudes and opinions. Furthermore, by measuring the "relative ranking" of the values, one could predict a wide variety of behaviors, including political affiliation and religious belief. This theory led to a series of experiments in which changes in values led to measurable changes.

Personal life

Rokeach taught psychology at various universities, such as Michigan State, Western Ontario, Washington State, and Southern California. In 1969, Rokeach married sociologist Sandra Ball-Rokeach.

Awards

In 1984, Rokeach received the

Kurt Lewin Kurt Lewin ( ; ; 9 September 1890 – 12 February 1947) was a German-American psychologist, known as one of the modern pioneers of social psychology, social, industrial and organizational psychology, organizational, and applied psychology in the ...

Memorial Award of the

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychologists in the United States, and the largest psychological association in the world. It has over 170,000 members, including scientists, educators, clin ...

. In 1988, he received the

Harold Lasswell Harold Dwight Lasswell (February 13, 1902 – December 18, 1978) was an American political scientist and communications theorist. He earned his bachelor's degree in philosophy and economics and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He was a ...

Award of the

International Society of Political Psychology The International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP) is an interdisciplinary not-for-profit organization, representing all fields of enquiry involved with the exploration of relationships between both psychological and political processes and ...

Bibliography

*
The Open and Closed Mind
' (1960) *''

'
Google Books Link
(1964) *
Beliefs, Attitudes, and Values: A Theory of Organization and Change
' (1968) *
The Nature of Human Values
' (1973) *
Understanding Human Values: Individual and Societal
' (1979) *(with Sandra Ball-Rokeach and Joel W. Grube)
The Great American Values Test: Influencing Behavior and Belief Through Television
' (1984)

References