Mead, George Herbert (mēd), 1863–1931, American philosopher and psychologist, b. South Hadley, Mass., grad. Oberlin, 1883, and Harvard, 1888, and studied in Leipzig and Berlin. He taught at the Univ. of Chicago from 1894 until his death. The work of John Dewey and of Mead may be regarded as complementary. Mead, studying the development of the mind and the self, regarded mind as the natural emergent from the interaction of the human organism and its social environment. Within this biosocial structure the gap between impulse and reason is bridged by the use of language. Mastering language, humans set up assumptions as to their roles in life, and self and consciousness-of-self emerge, giving intelligence a historical development that is both natural and moral. Mead called his position social behaviorism, using conduct—both social and biological—as an approach to all experience. Mead's work, collected posthumously, includes The Philosophy of the Present (1932), Mind, Self, and Society (1934), and The Philosophy of the Act (1938).

Bibliography

See P. Pfuetze, The Social Self (1954, repr. 1973 under the title Self, Society, Existence); see W. R. Corti, ed., The Philosophy of George Herbert Mead (1977); D. L. Miller, George Herbert Mead: Self, Language, and the World (1980).

Mead, George Herbert

(born Feb. 27, 1863, South Hadley, Mass., U.S.—died April 26, 1931, Chicago, Ill.) U.S. philosopher, sociologist, and social psychologist prominent in the development of pragmatism. He studied at Oberlin College, graduated from Harvard University (B.A., 1888), and went on to study philosophy and psychology at the Universities of Leipzig and Berlin (1888–91). Mead then taught philosophy and psychology at the University of Michigan (1891–94) with John Dewey and Charles Horton Cooley. In 1894 he joined Dewey in moving to the University of Chicago and taught there the rest of his life. Mead's focus was the relationship between the self and society, particularly the emergence of the human self in the process of social interaction. His works include The Philosophy of the Present (1932) and Mind, Self, and Society (1934). See also interactionism.

Mead, George Herbert (1863–1931) philosopher, social psychologist; born in South Hadley, Mass. Son of a Congregationalist pastor, he studied at Harvard and in Europe, taught at the University of Michigan (1891–94), and was a professor at the University of Chicago from 1894. He published little, but his lectures, edited posthumously, formed the basis of four books, including Mind, Self, and Society (1934). His "social behaviorism" eliminated "mentalistic" categories and portrayed the self as developing from a process of social interaction and communication.