Bateson, Gregory (1904-1980), was a British social scientist who made important contributions to anthropology, philosophy, psychology, and zoology. Bateson’s interests focused mainly on the mind and how it relates to human culture and nature as a whole. His research on communication and understanding in human and animal groups contributed to the development of cybernetics. This field concerns the study of control and communication in machines and animals, including human beings. See Cybernetics .
Bateson’s psychology research focused on family communication patterns. His work on schizophrenia, a severe mental disease characterized by unpredictable disturbances in thinking, led to his double-blind theory. Bateson said this disease is caused by repeated, conflicting messages of love and rejection that some children hear from emotionally unhealthy parents. His ideas on family communication are still used in clinical practice.
Bateson was born on May 9, 1904, in Grantchester, near Cambridge, England. He studied natural history at Cambridge University, graduating in 1926. Bateson was an early student of what became known as British social anthropology under A. R. Radcliffe-Brown. Bateson received a master’s degree in anthropology from Cambridge University in 1930. He met the American anthropologist Margaret Mead while studying cultural practices in New Guinea in the 1930’s. They were married from 1935 to 1950. Bateson held teaching and research positions at many institutions throughout the world, including visiting appointments at Stanford University and the University of California. His major books include Steps to an Ecology of Mind (1972) and Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity (1979). Bateson died on July 4, 1980.
See also Mead, Margaret .
