Gustav Jahoda

{{Short description|Austrian psychologist and writer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}} {{Infobox scientist | honorific_prefix = | name = Gustav Jahoda | honorific_suffix = FBA, FRSE | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image =  | image_size = | image_upright = | alt = | caption = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{birth date |df=yes|1920|10|11}} | birth_place = [[Vienna]] | death_date = {{death date and age |df=yes|2016|12|12 |1920|10|11}} | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | home_town = | other_names = | pronounce = | residence = | citizenship = | fields = Cultural psychology; Social psychology; History of psychology | workplaces = [[University of Manchester]]; [[University College of the Gold Coast]]; [[University of Glasgow]]; [[University of Strathclyde]] | patrons = | education = | alma_mater = [[Birkbeck, University of London]]; [[London School of Economics]] | thesis_title = Aspects of the sociology of J.M. Robertson (MSc thesis) | thesis_url = https://librarysearch.lse.ac.uk/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma9991911610302021&context=L&vid=44LSE_INST:44LSE_VU1&lang=en&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=Everything&query=any,contains,Gustav%20Jahoda&offset=20 | thesis_year = 1947 | doctoral_advisors = | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = | influences = | influenced = | awards = | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | spouse =  | partner =  | children = | signature =  | signature_alt = | website =  | footnotes = }}

'''Gustav Jahoda''', FBA, FRSE (11 October 1920 – 12 December 2016) was an Austrian-born [[psychologist]] who made a sustained contribution to the development of [[cross-cultural psychology]] and [[cultural psychology]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=PB3xzjIzyOwC&dq=Gustav+Jahoda&pg=PR18 Handbook of Cross-Cultural Psychology: Theory and Method by John Widdup Berry, Ype H. Poortinga and Janak Pandey]</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Gustav Jahoda, Early Founder of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Dead at 96|url=http://www.iaccp.org/node/670|website=International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology|accessdate=11 April 2017|date=15 December 2016|archive-date=11 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170411135311/http://www.iaccp.org/node/670|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Gustav Jahoda|url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/announcements/deaths/deaths/14970437.Gustav_Jahoda/|accessdate=11 April 2017|work=HeraldScotland|date=15 December 2016|language=en}}</ref>

==Biography and career== He was born in [[Vienna]] to a Jewish family. Leopold Jahoda, a lawyer, was his father and Olga (née Barany) his mother. He initially attended school in [[Vienna]] but was expelled because of his Jewish background. He then spent a year attending school in [[Paris]]. His family moved there after the [[Anschluss]]. In Paris, he studied [[civil engineering]]. With the outbreak of war, he joined the French army but when the French front collapsed he escaped to England. He initially worked in various engineering projects for the British Army and then was involved in some more secret work for the British government.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Markova |first1=Ivana |last2=Jahoda |first2=Andrew |title=Gustav Jahoda |url=https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/939/Memoirs_18-08-Jahoda_0.pdf |website=British Academy |access-date=1 May 2023}}</ref>

After he was invalided out of the army in 1942, Jahoda enrolled on a course on sociology and psychology at [[Birkbeck, University of London]] followed by an MSc and a PhD at the [[London School of Economics]]. His PhD thesis was entitled 'A study of the chief social determinants of occupational choice of secondary modern school leavers, with special reference to social class factors and the level of social aspiration'.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Deręgowski |first1=J.B. |title=Gustav Jahoda: A Life |journal=Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology |date=2017 |volume=48 |issue=4 |pages=455–460 |doi=10.1177/0022022117703475 |s2cid=151724070 |doi-access=free }}</ref> He then obtained a lectureship in social psychology at the [[University of Manchester]]. In 1952 he took up a post at the [[University College of the Gold Coast]] (now Ghana) in the Department of Sociology, where he carried out pioneering research into cross-cultural psychology.<ref>[http://www.answers.com/topic/gustav-jahoda Biography for Gustav Jahoda]</ref> He then worked at the [[University of Glasgow]] for three years.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jahoda |first1=Gustav |title=Seventy years of social psychology: a cultural and personal critique |journal=Journal of Social and Political Psychology |date=2016 |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=364–380 |doi=10.5964/jspp.v4i1.621 |url=https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/60100/1/Jahoda_JSPP2016_Seventy_years_of_social_psychology.pdf |access-date=2 May 2023}}</ref>

In 1963, Gustav Jahoda was invited to set up a new psychology department in the [[University of Strathclyde]]. He recruited [[Heinz Rudolph Schaffer]] to assist him with this task. Despite his administrative responsibilities he continued to make field trips to West Africa. He retired in 1985 and was appointed emeritus Professor but he continued to publish on both cultural psychology and the history of psychology.<ref>Jahoda, Gustav. ''Always something new out of Africa''. In Bond, M H: ''Working at the Interface of Cultures: Eighteen Lives in Social Science''. Routeledge, 1997, pp. 27-37.</ref><ref>Jahoda, Gustav, 'Crossing cultures', in Bunn, G C et al. ''Psychology in Britain: Historical Essays and Personal Reflections''. British Psychological Society, 2001, pp. 402-410.</ref>

==Research== He published works on cross-cultural psychology, socio-cognitive development and history of the social sciences.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Poortinga |first1=Ype H. |title=Gustav Jahoda: The art and science of constructive skepticism |journal=Culture and Psychology |date=2018 |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=368–381|doi=10.1177/1354067X18779037 |pmid=30166934 |pmc=6099975 }}</ref> He published a series of books and more than 200 articles.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

==Awards== Jahoda was elected fellow of the [[British Academy]] in 1988 and fellow of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]] in 1993.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jahoda |first1=Andrew |last2=Markova |first2=Ivana |date=2017 |title=Gustav Jahoda FRSE, FBA (1920–2016) |url=https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/gustav-jahoda-frse-fba-1920-2016 |journal=[[The Psychologist (magazine)|The Psychologist]] |volume=30 |issue=April |pages=9 |access-date=2017-03-10}}</ref>

==Personal life== He married Jean Buchanan, a social worker, in 1952. When they moved to Scotland they settled in [[Cardross]], [[Argyll and Bute]]. They had four children, Andrew, Colin, Paul and Catherine. Jean died in 1991. He subsequently developed a new relationship with Andrea Jack, a teacher. He died in 2016.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jahoda |first1=Paul |title=Gustav Jahoda: A life |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/apr/10/gustav-jahoda-obituary |access-date=3 May 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=10 April 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Gustav Jahoda |url=https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-herald-1130/20171223/282041917497404 |access-date=3 May 2023 |work=The Herald |date=23 December 2017}}</ref>

== Publications == *''A History of Social Psychology: From the Eighteenth-Century Enlightenment to the Second World War'' (2007)<ref>{{cite journal|title=Review Essay of ''A History of Social Psychology: From the Eighteenth-Century Enlightenment to the Second World War'' by Gustav Jahoda|author=Sica, Alan|journal=Social Psychology Quarterly|volume=72|issue=2|date=June 2009|pages=99–104|jstor=25593912|doi=10.1177/019027250907200202|s2cid=143937930 }}</ref> *''Images of Savages: Ancient Roots of Modern Prejudice in Western Culture'' (1999) *''Crossroads Between Culture and Mind: Continuities and Change in Theories of Human Nature'' (1993) *''Psychology and Anthropology: A Psychological Perspective'' (1982) *''The Psychology of Superstition'' (1970) *''White Man: A Study of the Attitudes of Africans to Europeans in Ghana before Independence'' (1961)

== References == {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jahoda, Gustav}} [[Category:1920 births]] [[Category:2016 deaths]] [[Category:Alumni of the University of London]] [[Category:Anomalistic psychology]] [[Category:20th-century Austrian psychologists]] [[Category:British psychologists]] [[Category:Cultural psychologists]] [[Category:Critics of parapsychology]] [[Category:Academics of the University of Strathclyde]] [[Category:Fellows of the British Academy]] [[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh]] [[Category:Austrian expatriates in France]] [[Category:Austrian emigrants to the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Health professionals from Vienna]]