John Walter Thibaut, Ph.D. (1917–1986) was a professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, for nearly 30 years. He was an American social psychologist with research in the areas of social psychology; social and political philosophy; social issues, including the negotiation of loyalty and fairness in procedures for conflict resolution; the assessment of social exchange processes using rewards, costs, expectations, and outcomes; and intergroup processes, including status, power, and interdependency in dyads and groups. Thibaut died at the age of 68 from lung cancer and was survived by his wife, Ann, and children, Constantia and Charles.
His Early Life and Academic Career
Thibaut was born on April 30, 1917, in Marion, Ohio. Though John’s parents had little formal education, they recognized their son’s early interest in learning and supported his pursuits for knowledge. From a young age, John was an avid reader and was known to stay home from school to explore a...
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References and Selected Bibliography
Jones, E., Kelley, H., & Schopler, J. (1987). John Walter Thibaut (1917–1986). American Psychologist, 42(9), 874–875.
Kelley, H. H., & Thibaut, J. W. (1954). Experimental studies of group problem solving and process. In G. Lindzey (Ed.), Handbook of social psychology (pp. 735–785). Cambridge, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Kelley, H. H., & Thibaut, J. W. (1978). Interpersonal relations: A theory of interdependence. New York: Wiley.
Ostrom, T. M. (1986). John Walter Thibaut. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 22(6), 505–506.
Sheehy, N., Chapman, A. J., & Conroy, W. A. (2016). Thibaut, John Walter. In Biographical dictionary of psychology (pp. 565–566). New York: Routledge.
Thibaut, J. W., & Kelley, H. H. (1959). The social psychology of groups. New York: Wiley.
Thibaut, J. W., & Walker, L. (1975). Procedural justice: A psychological analysis. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Van Lange, P. A. M. (2012). A history of interdependence: Theory and research. In A. W. Kruglanki & W. Stroebe (Eds.), Handbook of the history of social psychology (pp. 341–362). New York: Psychology Press.
Van Lange, P. A. M., & Balliet, D. (2015). Interdependence theory. In M. Mikulincer, P. R. Shaver, J. A. Simpson, & J. F. Dovidio (Eds.), APA handbook of personality and social psychology, volume 3: Interpersonal relations (pp. 65–92). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
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Hilaire, N. (2017). Thibaut, John. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1020-1
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