Theodore Newcomb

Contributions

Bennington College Study

He studied the kinds of individual and small-group teachings that were possible at a small college. After a four-year longitudinal study he was able to show degrees of change concerning then contemporary public issues and how that varied directly with length of stay in the college and the status position within the student body. 25 years later a follow-up study supported his original data. This study is known as the Bennington College Study, and still highly discussed in social psychology. He developed many longitudinal studies, something that was considered a novelty in the psychological field.

Acquaintance process

One of Newcomb's greatest contributions involved his study of the acquaintance process. Newcomb offered 17 men entering college free rent as long as they recorded their attitudes, likes, and dislikes each week. The study led to a number of principles of attraction that lead to the formation of groups both elaborated by Newcomb, and then later by other researchers.

Proximity Principle

The Proximity Principle is the tendency for individuals to associate, befriend, and be attracted to those who are nearby. Newcomb assigned each of the young women in his Bennington College study into their rooms at random. Therefore, they were each paired with a roommate at random. Despite the random assignment most of the roommates were close friends by the end of the study.

These results have been further corroborated by findings showing students becoming friends with students adjacent to them in assigned seating, and college students sending more emails to students in nearby dorms as opposed to far away.

Elaboration Principle

The Elaboration Principle is the tendency for groups to form when smaller groups (e.g. dyads and triads) develop ties and linkages to form larger more functional groups. Essentially, core group members tend to reach out and create new acquaintances, allowing the group to expand through the Elaboration Principle.

Newcomb found that many of the dyads in his Bennington College study consisted of roommates and individuals in adjoining rooms. These soon grew as other individuals became attracted to members of these dyads, allowing the smaller groups to grow and amalgamate.

This has been further corroborated by studies observing groups of individuals like peer-groups, and social movements.

Similarity Principle

The Similarity principle is the tendency for individuals to join groups in which the members are similar to them in some way. Newcomb found that his sample consisted of two main sub-groups. A group of nine and a group of seven (One young man was outside both of these groups, adding to the total of 17 men). The two sub-groups were separated by both their interests and backgrounds. For example, one group favored liberal politics and religious ideas, were enrolled in the arts college, were from the same part of the country, as well they shared comparable aesthetic, social, and theoretical views. The other group, however, were all veterans, engineering majors, and shared comparable political, religious, and economic views.

The types of similarities that can attract group members to each other can be related to values, attitudes, and beliefs. They can also consist of more irrelevant similarities such as race, sex, age, and other demographic factors.

Other principles of attraction

These additional principles that grew out of Newcomb's initial work have been worked on mostly by other researchers, and some have had conflicting findings within the research.

Complementarity Principle

The tendency for individuals to seek members that are dissimilar in ways that fit well with the other group members. For example, someone who enjoys leading would fit well with followers as opposed to other leaders.

Some research has found that in dyads similarity is much more common a reason to join a group, while other studies have found close groups will often have complementary, but dissimilar needs.

Reciprocity Principle

The tendency for individuals to respond favorably when others accept them or act approvingly towards them. Individuals tend to reciprocate liking with liking.

Newcomb and others have found evidence for the principle.

Minmax Principle

The tendency for individuals, as rational creatures, to seek out groups that offer the cost and the greatest.

Awards

• Kurt Lewin Award from Division 9 of the American Psychological Association
• Elected President of the APA in 1956
• Elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1957
• 57th most eminent psychologist in the 20th century
• Fulbright Research Scholar, London, 1951–52
• Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, 1957
• Guggenheim Fellow 1959
• First Annual Research Award, American Educational Research Administration, 1972