Page 149 - Historical Dictionary of Political Communication in the United States

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STEPHENSON, WILLIAM
of the National Women's Political Caucus, which encouraged women to run for
political office. Through the 1970s and 1980s she continued to be active in
founding other politically active women's organizations. Her books include
Moving beyond Words (1994), Revolution from Within (1992), and Outrageous
Acts and Everyday Rebellions (1983).
SOURCES: The books mentioned and Gloria Steinem, "Sex, Lies, and Advertising,"
Ms, July/August 1990.
Ardyth B. Sohn

STEPHENSON, WILLIAM (1902-1976) developed Q methodology, a quan-
titative approach for the scientific study of human subjectivity, with the indi-
vidual as well as with populations. He devised a method of using factor analysis
to assign people into attitude factor arrays that can be described and analyzed.
Q methodology continues to be used in the study of attitudes toward politics
and politicians, the communication processes and effects, the media, advertising,
and the health care system. Stephenson described himself as "neither journalist
.
nor creative writer .. but just a social scientist who lets neither psychology nor
sociology nor statistics get in the way of insights into [the] complex matters at
issue." His long and active career took him from physics, to psychology, to
communication and journalism. Born in 1902 in Durham, England, he attended
the University of Durham, earning a bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. in physics
in 1927. He received a second Ph.D. in psychology in 1929. He worked in
clinical psychology before joining the staff of the Institute of Experimental Psy-
chology at Oxford, first as assistant director and later as director. Stephenson
emerged from World War II with the rank of brigadier general after serving as
a consultant to the Central Trade Test Board, Royal Air Force, and the British
Army War Office. In 1948, Stephenson joined the psychology faculty at the
University of Chicago, where he worked with Carl Rogers. He became distin-
guished research professor of journalism and professor of psychology at the
University of Missouri in 1957, where he remained until his retirement in 1974.
His landmark books include The Study of Behavior (1953) and The Play Theory
of Mass Communication (1967). The Stephenson Research Center, founded in
his memory at the University of Missouri, annually hosts the International So-
ciety for the Scientific Study of Subjectivity Conference to present Q method-
ology research from many disciplines. (See also Q Sort Method.)
SOURCES: Stephen R. Brown and Donald J. Brenner, Science, Psychology, and Com-
munication: Essays Honoring William Stephenson, 1972; Keith Sanders, "William Ste-
phenson: The Study of (His) Behavior," Mass Comm Review, December 1974.
Judith Sylvester

STEREOTYPING. The tendency to categorize or group people and to perceive
or respond to people as possessing those traits and qualities that are associated