Contributions to Research

Prof Rath's early researches on attitudes towards various socio-cultural, political-economic and national-international issues, inter-caste and inter-group tensions, stereotypes and prejudices prevailing in Indian societies earned him an international reputation. His monograph on 'Psycho-Social Problems of Social Change' published by the Allied Publishers on behalf of A. N. Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna [2] deliberated on the consequences of societal changes towards modernity and globalization. By then, the Department of Psychology at the University of Allahabad was vigorously pursuing research on socio-psychological issues under the leadership of Prof. D. Sinha, who was a very close personal friend and a professional colleague of Prof. Rath. For having a distinct identity and also taking cognizance of the expertise of his younger student-colleagues, Prof. Rath oriented the research focus of the Department to cognitive, developmental and educational issues. His emphasis on nationally as well as internationally relevant, socio-culturally meaningful and indigenous psychological studies in subsequent research projects from national and international bodies shaped the research focus of the Center of Advanced Study in Psychology at Utkal. A classic and pioneering research on cognitive and academic characteristics of the marginalized children published as a monograph titled "Cognitive Abilities and School Achievement of Socially Disadvantaged Children in Primary Schools" by the Allied Publishers in the late seventies [3] was a significant research contribution in furthering the Department's research focuses on cognitive and educational Psychology. Acknowledging the academic and research excellence of the Department, the UGC granted special assistance in 1972 to develop an Educational Psychology wing in the Department of Psychology, which was later declared as the Department of Special Assistance in 1977 and subsequently as the Center of Advanced Study in Psychology in 1980. A model preschool in the form of a psychological laboratory for Master's students was opened in 1980, emphasizing the importance of early childhood care and education for the disadvantaged children. A journey from research on social issues to the field of cognition with an indigenous tone marked the successive progression of research focus under the leadership of Prof. Rath supported by an excellent faculty trained in the scientific temper of hard-core Psychology and the social relevance of the discipline in the field of applied Psychology.

Dr. Radhanath Rath was primarily a social psychologist who studied the problems of people across caste, class, gender, socio-economic status, age, and rural-urban settings. The ICSSR survey of research in Psychology published in 1972 carried his scholarly review ‘Social Psychology: A Trend Report’ (Pareek, 1981). It was a pioneering effort to compile and analyze the research work in social Psychology in India ‘In his analysis, Rath categorized social psychological research under eight broad areas, namely; (a) cultural and social processes, (b) attitudes and opinions, (c) group and interpersonal processes, (d) communication, (e) aesthetics, (f) sexual behavior, (g) smoking, drug, and alcohol use, and (h) methodology. Prior to 1940, as he pointed out, there were only 55 research publications, but the research activities increased in the next decade (1940-1950), and there were 64 publications. The number further increased to 102 during the period 1950-1960 and, thereafter, there was a leap forward with the number going up to 306 in the decade from 1960 to 1970 [1]. The highest number of publications were in the area of cultural and social processes, and the second-highest was on attitudes and opinions. These were the major areas in which the contributions of Radhanath Rath were quite seminal.

In his review of research on social Psychology in India, Rath pointed out the need for problem-oriented research in India and emphasized theory-building and adopting a more appropriate methodology to study social behavior and processes. He maintained that methodological rigor, random sampling, and rigorous statistical techniques would be helpful for the generalization of research findings. He was in favor of multidisciplinary and integrative approaches to research in this field with a focus on social issues and problems.

Rath, like some of his contemporaries, did not believe in replication or ‘foreignness' of psychological studies [4]. By using well-known scaling techniques such as the social distance scale, Likert and Thurstone scales, and established measures, several issue-focused researches on stereotypes towards various socio-cultural groups and attitudes towards socio-economic and political issues in Indian society were taken up by him and his associates [5][6][7][8][9]. As Sinha observes [10], studies by Rath on prejudices and stereotypes were significant contributions fostering understanding of the genesis, dynamics, and evolution of inter-group relations and social tension in Indian society.

Rath’s studies on the impact of disadvantage and poverty on cognitive and perceptual processes of children and the adverse effects of socio-environmental disadvantages on the cognitive ability of primary school children belonging to scheduled castes and tribes in terms of poor academic performance have been quite influential, leading to a very popular and well-cited monograph in the field [3]. Through a number of intervention studies, Rath showed the positive impact of well-designed training in facilitating some cognitive abilities of disadvantaged children [11][12][3][13]. Earlier, in 1969, he took up a statewide study in schools in Odisha on the impact of the mid-day meal program (the Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere [CARE] Feeding Program) with the Council of Social Development, New Delhi [1]. This large-scale, path-breaking study was multidisciplinary in its approach, bringing in different disciplines of Psychology, education, sociology, anthropology, health, and nutrition as well as economics. The evaluation of the CARE mid-day meal program showed some positive effects of the feeding program on children’s classroom performance and attendance. This was perhaps the first-ever study in India on mid-day meals and its impact.