Stanley Schachter: biography of this psychologist and researcher

This American psychologist developed a career linked to social psychology and health.

Our emotions are internal forces that continually affect our behavior and perception, but whose exact functioning has been largely unknown throughout history. This has generated that many researchers have tried to offer a scientific explanation of why and when an emotion arises, and there are a variety of theories about it.

One of them is the one that Stanley Schachter made together with Jerome Singer, being the first of them an important psychologist specialized in social psychology. In order to better understand his work, it may be useful to know a little more about the life of this author. That is why throughout this article we are going to see a short biography of Stanley Schachler. a short biography of Stanley Schachter.

The life of Stanley Schachter: a biography.

Stanley Schachter's birth took place on April 15, 1922 in Flushing, New York. Coming from a family of Jews of Romanian origin, he was the son of Nathan Schacter and Anna Fruchter. Already since childhood he was curious and capable, eager to learn and when he was a little older he expressed the desire to study at the university.

Education and war

After completing his high school education, the young Schachter enrolled at Yale University to study art history. He graduated from Yale University in 1942 and after completing his studies he also decided to pursue a master's degree in psychology, as it seemed closer to his interests. as it seemed to him closer to his interests and to be able to work on social problems. In this sense he was deeply influenced by Clark Hull and his theory of learning. He earned his master's degree in 1944.

World War II was in full swing at the time, and upon completion of his master's degree, Schachter enlisted in the army, where he would be promoted to sergeant. enlisted in the army, where he would be promoted to sergeant, and in which his main role would be to work and in which his main role would be to work studying the visual problems of pilots in the biophysics division of the aeromedical laboratory. His military service ended two years later in 1946.

Ph.D.

Later the same year, the American psychologist enrolled for a Ph. enrolled for a research doctorate at MIT together with Kurt LewinD., intending to focus on theories related to social psychology and especially to group behavior within the Research Center for Group Dynamics. There he would meet those who would end up becoming great authors, such as Festinger, but unfortunately only a year later his teacher passed away. Lewin's death caused the center to close the project and all the students had to look for another center.

After some time searching, Schachter was finally accepted to continue his training at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. There he returned to work with Festinger, who in fact became his mentor.and with him he studied social influence and human communication.

He finished his doctorate in 1949, with a thesis concerning the treatment provided by the members of a group to the existence of divergences with respect to the majority opinion.

Beginning of working life

On the basis of his work during his doctoral studies, the University of Minnesota offered him his first job as an assistant professor in the department of social relations research.. Gradually he would rise through the ranks, becoming associate professor in '54 and full professor in 1958.

During this period he continued his research on group relations and behavior and produced several works on social communication and group pressure. He would also end up writing together with Festinger and Riecken the publication "When Prophecy Fails", which studied the case of a group with apocalyptic beliefs that, despite evidence to the contrary, maintained their beliefs regarding the imminent destruction of the world. This made the author even more interested in the power of social influence, something that made him investigate further.This made him research even more and produce several publications, which earned him interesting prizes and prestige. He remained in his position for a total of twelve years.

However, in 1961 he was hired by Columbia University as a professor of psychology. That same year he married Sophia Duckworth, with whom he had a son in 1969.with whom he would eventually have a son in 1969. He would hold the position until 1992. It would be during this period that he would make some of his most outstanding contributions.

Major research

Firstly, he worked on elements such as the effects of birth order in siblings or the reaction and sensitivity of the obese population to food stimuli (they eat more if the food can be obtained easily). He was also interested in physiological reactions to stimuli, and little by little an interest was born in understanding and investigating the functioning and origin of emotions and the physical reactions that accompany them. Other relevant research would be linked to substances, especially in the case of habituation.especially in the case of habituation and dependence to tobacco.

But undoubtedly his best known contribution is the one he made in the late sixties, when he came into contact and began to collaborate with Jerome Singer and other authors with the aim of finding out how we experience emotions.

In what would become the greatest and best known work of both authors, Singer and Schachter would come to the conclusion that emotion is the result of the presence of an internal mental activation at the physiological level and a series of processes with which we try to name and recognize the activation in question.

For these authors, the emotion felt would come after the physiological reaction, i.e. first the body presents activation and then our mind gives that activation a meaning or sense based on the situation and previous experience. This implies that emotion is nothing more than the labeling at the conscious level of the interpretation of our physical and mental activity.

Final years and death

Schachter continued in his position and conducting various research for the rest of his life until 1992. At that time he would cease his relationship with the University of Minnesota. A few years later the author discovered he was suffering from a malignant tumor: colon cancer.. Death came to Schachter on June 7, 1997, when Cancer killed him at his home in New York.

Schachter's legacy is great. Although among the population he is probably not one of the best known names, the fact is that he is among some of the most recognized authors, especially in the study of emotions. Moreover, the diversity of his research makes one think of him as one of the precursors of health psychology.

Bibliographical references:

• Nisbett, R.E. (2000). Stanley Schachter 1922-1997. Biographical Memoirs, 78. National Academy of Sciences. The National Academy Press. Washington, D.C.