Samuel Shozo Komorita

Samuel Shozo Komorita (born April 7, 1927 in Seattle , † December 11, 2006 in Champaign , Illinois ) was a retired American psychologist and university professor. His last place of work was the University of Illinois . Komorita is best known for his work on conflict resolution, especially for studying the dynamics of conflicts and forming coalitions.

Life

Komorita was born to Japanese parents, Ken and Kaga Komorita, in Seattle in 1927. He also grew up in Seattle until the family was interned at the Minidoka War Relocation Center detention center during World War II in 1943 . There Komorita graduated from high school . He applied to the US Army in 1944 , where he was later accepted despite initial rejection due to his ethnicity . He remained in the military until 1947.

In 1947 he also enrolled at the University of Washington , graduating in 1950 with a Bachelor of Psychology and in 1952 with a Masters in Business Psychology . With this qualification, Komorita began his professional career as a specialist in work analysis and synthesis as well as for assessment centers . After a short career, Komorita opted for an academic career and began his doctoral studies in mathematical psychology at the University of Michigan . The study in which he met Clyde Coombs , he graduated in 1956 with a Ph.D. from. While Coombs mainly focused on theoretical work, Komorita had a preference for theories that could be verified in practice.

Komorita developed various models of coalition formation, and throughout his life retained a preference for practical work. In Michigan he came into contact with game theory in a seminar under the direction of Anatol Rapoport , which aroused his interest in dialogues with mixed motifs. After completing his doctorate , Komorita moved to Vanderbilt University after a brief interlude at RAND Corporation . He left the university in 1961 in protest against the decision not to admit a colored student to study theology .

He moved to Wayne State University . Race riots moving Komorita finally Detroit to leave in 1969, he moved to the Indiana University Bloomington . Komorita stayed there for five years before moving to the University of Illinois, where he stayed until his retirement in 1995.

Komorita died on December 11, 2006 of complications from emphysema in Champaign , Illinois .

Honors

Komorita was a fellow of the American Psychological Association .

Work and research interests

Komorita's early publications show no interest in mixed motifs. He examined the properties of assessment scales and the influence of the parental home on the development of prejudice in children. At the same time, however, he deepened his knowledge of game theory by reading Morton Deutsch's work on cooperation and Sidney Siegel's work on negotiations .

Finally, in 1965, Komorita published his first paper on the prisoner's dilemma , the classic “cheat-or-collaborate” approach to game theory. When Komorita moved to Indiana he had given up all previous research and he concentrated exclusively on game theory research, in which he initially focused on coalition formation and negotiation theory. He developed two models, one based on equal probabilities and, together with Jerry Chertkoff, the negotiation theory of Komorita and Chertkoff, named after the two . The model was tested in test situations in groups and improved with the results. He released a third model in 1979.

From around 1980, Komorita, under the influence of Robert Axelrod's simulations, concentrated on behavioral strategies in the prisoner's dilemma, whereby Komorita emphasized his interest in dilemmas and the question of how cooperation could be initiated and strengthened.

Publications

Books

1964, Review outline of psychology
1994, Social dilemmas: the psychology of human cooperation
1995, Interpersonal Relations. Mixed-motive interactions
1996, Social Dilemmas

items

1973, A bargaining theory of coalition formation ; with Jerry Chertkoff; Psychological Review, 80, 149-162.
1978, Evaluating Coalition Theories: Some Indices ; Journal of Conflict Resolution, 1978, vol. 22, issue 4, 691-706
1988, The Effects of Justice Norms in a Bargaining Situation ; with Alan L. Ellis and Robert J. Melton
1997, Reciprocal Strategies for Large Groups

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z ^aa ^ab Craig D. Parks: Obituary - Samuel Komorita Remembered. In: Association for Psychological Science website. Association for Psychological Science, June 1, 2007, accessed December 11, 2018 .
↑ ^a ^b ^c Patrick Laughlin: Faculty Obituaries: Samuel Komorita. The central theme of his research and scholarship, as of his life, was turning conflict into cooperation. In: Psychology Times. 2007, p. 14 , accessed on December 12, 2018 (English).
↑ ^a ^b R. Hansmann and Helmut W. Crott: Negotiation theory from Komorita and Chertkoff. In: Dorsch Lexicon of Psychology. Markus Antonius Wirtz, accessed on December 13, 2018 (German).

personal data
SURNAME	Komorita, Samuel Shozo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Komorita, Samuel; Komorita, Sam; Komorita, SS; Komorita, S.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American psychologist
DATE OF BIRTH	April 7, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH	Seattle , Washington
DATE OF DEATH	December 11, 2006
Place of death	Champaign , Illinois

[ParksAPS-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z ^aa ^ab Craig D. Parks: Obituary - Samuel Komorita Remembered. In: Association for Psychological Science website. Association for Psychological Science, June 1, 2007, accessed December 11, 2018 .

[PsyTimes-2] Patrick Laughlin: Faculty Obituaries: Samuel Komorita. The central theme of his research and scholarship, as of his life, was turning conflict into cooperation. In: Psychology Times. 2007, p. 14 , accessed on December 12, 2018 (English).

[DorschHansmannCrott-3] R. Hansmann and Helmut W. Crott: Negotiation theory from Komorita and Chertkoff. In: Dorsch Lexicon of Psychology. Markus Antonius Wirtz, accessed on December 13, 2018 (German).