Robert Freed Bales

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Robert Freed Bales (born March 9, 1916 in Ellington , Missouri , † June 16, 2004 in San Diego ) was an American social psychologist .

He was a professor at Harvard University and developed the interaction process analysis (IPA) and the symlog method for behavioral observation in small groups .

Life

Bales grew up in rural northeast Oregon, where his family moved soon after he was born. After finishing school, he attended the University of Oregon . Here he began to deal with the concept of the situation and wrote his thesis in sociology about it . He was mainly influenced by the work of Kurt Lewin . Lewin's field theory and his way of analyzing situation, action and behavior in a differentiated manner formed the basis for Bale's later main work, systematically recording and describing interactions in small groups .

After graduating from Oregon, Bales went to Harvard, where he worked with Talcott Parsons . He began to be interested in Alcoholics Anonymous and to observe their group interactions, but found that his "direct observations" disrupted the interaction process, so that he first turned to other aspects of alcoholism. He wrote his dissertation on alcoholism rates among Irish and Jews. After receiving his doctorate in 1945, he taught at the “Department of Social Relations” newly founded by Parsons. In 1957 he was appointed "Professor of Social Relations". From 1960 to 1967 he was director of the Laboratory of Social Relations. Bales retired in 1986.

Services

Bales' main work focused on fundamental terms of social psychology, primarily on the characteristics of interpersonal interaction in small groups. He can be described as a pioneer in the development of systematic methods of group observation and description of interaction processes. In 1950 he published his first book Interaction Process Analysis . The interaction process analysis (IPA) developed by him found, as well as his later developed and based on the symlog procedure, international dissemination in small group research.

Awards

Fonts (selection)

Monographs / books

  • The Concept "Situation" as a Sociological Tool . Unpublished Master of Science dissertation, University of Oregon 1941.
  • together, with Talcott Parsons & Edward Shils: Interaction Process Analysis. A Model for the Study of Small Groups . The University of Chicago Press, 1950. (Reprinted 1976).
  • together with Talcott Parsons: Family, socialization and interaction process . Free Press 1955
  • Personality and Interpersonal Behavior . Holt, Rinehart, Winston, New york 1969. ISBN 0030804507
  • The "fixation factor" in alcohol addiction. An hypothesis derived from a comparative study of Irish and Jewish social norms . Arno Press, New York 1980. ISBN 0405129483
  • together with Talcott Parsons & Edward Shils: Working papers in the theory of action . Greenwood Press, Westport (Conn.) 1981. ISBN 0313224684
  • together with Stephen P. Cohen: SYMLOG. A system for multi-level observation of groups . Velcro cotta. Stuttgart 1982. ISBN 3-12-900811-X ((from the American translation by Johann F. Schneider and Peter Orlik). Original: SYMLOG. A system for the multiple level observation of groups . New York: Free Press 1979).
  • Social Interaction Systems. Theory and measurement . Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick / New Jersey 1999. ISBN 978-0765808721

Articles in anthologies / journals

  • together with Isenberg, Daniel. J .: SYMLOG and leadership theory. In: James G. Hunt, Uma Sekaran, Chester A. Schriesheim (Eds.), Leadership. Beyond establishment views . Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, Ill. 1982, pp. 165195.
  • SYMLOG. A practical approach to the study of groups . In: Herbert H. Blumberg (Ed.): '' Small groups and social interaction ''. Vol. 2, Wiley, Chichester 1983, pp. 499-523.
  • The integration of social psychology . In: Social Psychology Quarterly. Vol. 47 (1), 1984, p. 98101.
  • The new field theory in social psychology . International Journal of Small Group Research. BD. 1 (1), 1985, p. 118.
  • together with Robert F., Koenigs a. Paul D. Roman: Criteria for adaptation of SYMLOG rating items to particular populations and cultural contexts . In: International Journal of Small Group Research, Vol. 3 (2), 1987, pp. 161-179.

literature

  • Johann F. Schneider, Robert Freed Bales: Behind and in front of the one way mirror. An interview with Robert Freed Bales. Univ. d. Saarlandes, specializing in psychology, Saarbrücken 1977
  • W. Manz: Comments on Bales' “Personality and Interpersonal Behavior” . In: Group Dynamics. Issue 4.4 year 1973.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Bales, Robert Freed
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American social psychologist
DATE OF BIRTH March 9, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Ellington, Missouri
DATE OF DEATH June 16, 2004
Place of death San Diego