Albert Hastorf, the Benjamin Scott Crocker Professor of Human Biology emeritus at Stanford, died Sept. 26, 2011. He was 90.
Hastorf received a bachelor’s degree from Amherst in 1942, and from 1942 to 1946 he served in the Army Air Corps. In 1949, he earned a Ph.D. in psychology from Princeton. Beginning his career at Dartmouth in 1948, Hastorf became a full professor of psychology in 1955. He joined Stanford in 1961, was executive head of the psychology department from 1961 to 1970, and in 1979 became the Crocker Professor. He retired in 1990.
At Stanford, he was dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences from 1970 to 1974, and provost from 1980 to 1984. So successfully did Hastorf perform these duties, along with his teaching, that he was greatly admired and honored on the Stanford campus.
Hastorf was a pioneer in the study of social interaction and social perception. He was well known for a study published in 1954 (with the late Hadley Cantril of Princeton) titled “They Saw a Game.” This pioneering study documented how differently partisan Princeton and Dartmouth supporters interpreted rough play in a football game between the two schools.
Hastorf is survived by his wife, Barbara; two daughters; and one grandson. Another grandson predeceased him.
Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.