Hadley Cantril

Of the fourteen nations reported in Hadley Cantril, The Pattern of Human Concerns, the Consortium has data for the following ten: Brazil: 1,142 respondents weighted to 2,740, 3 cards of data per respondent, and 71 variables. The data were collected from late 1960 through early 1961. Cuba: 992 respondents weighted to 1,490, 3 cards of data per respondent, and 33 variables. The data were collected in April and May 1960. The sample represents only urban areas. Dominican Republic: 814 respondents weighted to 2,442, 3 cards of data per respondent, and 84 variables. The data were collected in April 1962. India I: 2,366 respondents weighted to 5,720, 3 cards of data per respondent, and 59 variables. The data were collected in late summer 1962. The sample under represents females. India II: 2,014 respondents weighted to 4,993, 3 cards of data per respondent, and 59 variables. The data were collected in January 1963 (after border fighting with China). The sample under-represents females. Israel I: 1,170 respondents, 3 cards of data per respondent, and 41 variables. The data were collected from November 1961, through June 1962. Israel II: Kibbutzim, 3 respondents, 3 cards of data per respondent, and 41 variables. The data were collected from July through October 1962.

"Hadley Cantril looked beyond the surface of social movements to examine the psychology behind them. What motivates people to follow an untried leader? What does the social environment do to make people suggestible? What are people thinking about, puzzled about, and hoping for when they lose themselves in some cause that seems strange or esoteric to the observer? Part I gives a systematic framework for interpretation of social movements. Part II examines specific social movements: the lynching mob, the kingdom of Father Divine, the Oxford Group, the Townsend Plan, and the Nazi Party.". "Cantril uses the technique of phenomenological analysis to straighten out the tangle of mental contest and motivation found in the individual who is adjusting to the social world. He notes that "the principles of some social movements are 'wrong,' those of others are more nearly 'right.' Some are cruel illusions accepted by bewildered people who follow false prophets: others uncompromisingly base policies on assumptions which the psychologist knows are untrue; some would completely prohibit the search for an understanding of man and his social world; some unnecessarily destroy the capacity and talent of man in obtaining his objectives."". "The Psychology of Social Movements sets forth an outline by which social movements can be judged and their outcomes predicted. Cantril lays the responsibility for making these evaluations at the feet of social scientists who are best equipped to do so based on knowledge rather than ignorance, bias, or prejudice. This volume will be of continuing importance to sociologists and political scientists as well as psychologists and anyone interested in the mechanisms that drive social movements."--BOOK JACKET.

From the Publisher: "On Halloween night 1938, Orson Welles broadcast a radio adaptation of the H. G. Wells fantasy, The War of the Worlds. What listeners heard sounded so realistic that at least a million were frightened by word that "strange creatures" from Mars had landed in central New Jersey and were "unleashing a deadly assault." Several thousand were so terrified they ran into the streets, drove away in their cars, or called the police for information about how to escape. Why did so many panic when the circumstances reported were so improbable? That is just the question Hadley Cantril, then a young social psychologist, set out to answer." Originally published in 1940, The Invasion from Mars remains a classic. The broadcast provided a unique real-life opportunity to explore why the relatively new medium of radio could have such an effect. Using a mix of research methods, Cantril shows that the impact of the broadcast had less to do with what went out over the air than with the "standards of judgment" people did or did not use in evaluating what they were hearing. This book is of continuing value to those interested in communications and mass behavior.

lix, 1191 p. ; 29 cm