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Gregory Bateson on deutero‐learning and double bind: A brief conceptual history
Author(s) -
Visser Max
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of the history of the behavioral sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.216
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1520-6696
pISSN - 0022-5061
DOI - 10.1002/jhbs.10112
Subject(s) - argument (complex analysis) , epistemology , meaning (existential) , psychology , sociology , cognitive science , chemistry , philosophy , biochemistry
The concepts of deutero‐learning and double bind have acquired an increasingly important status in various fields of social and behavioral science, particularly in psychiatry, psychotherapy, organization, and policy science. With this proliferation, however, their original meaning and significance has become increasingly muted. In this article it is argued that both concepts are important ingredients of a behavioral theory of (organizational) learning. To support this argument, the development of both concepts is traced to the work of Gregory Bateson. In Bateson's thinking, the two concepts have a firm base in dyadic behavior and interaction. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.