Stein Leif Bråten (3 November 1934 - 28 March 2024) was a Norwegian sociologist and social psychologist specializing in communication. He used the Simula programming language in one of the earliest uses of computers in modelling interpersonal communication (cfr his "A Simulation Study of Personal and Mass Communication", IAG Quarterly Journal of the Administrative Data Processing Group of IFIP, 1968, vol.1, no.2:.7-28). In 1989 he was awarded a PhD. in psychology at the University of Bergen for work on preverbal communication with infants connected to his theory of the virtual other. He was recognized for his work on mother-child interaction and in 1998 edited Intersubjective Communication and Emotion in Early Ontogeny, published by Cambridge University Press (). He was

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

and was member of the

Norwegian Academy of Science The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters ( no, Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway. History The Royal Frederick Univer ...

. His 1973 article "Model Monopoly and Communication: Systems Theoretical Notes on Democratization" was selected for the Norwegian Sociology Canon by ''Sosiologinytt'' in 2011 (issued by the Norwegian Sociological Organization). A main theme in this article is that the so-called 'model strength' of the participants in a conversation (in such as a boardroom) affects the outcome of prolonged conversation as regards influence and power (put simply, this is in contrast to the view that communication in general leads to democratic spread of power).

References

1934 births 2024 deaths Norwegian sociologists Social psychologists Communication theorists {{Norway-sociologist-stub