Vol 2, No 10, 2003 pp. 789-789
In Memoriam
John Michael Argyle,
social psychologist, born 11th August 1925; died 6th September
2002
Michael Argyle was a Reader in Social Psychology at Oxford University
and a Fel-low of Wolfson College. He was promoted to a readership and on
retirement joined Ox-ford Brookes University as a professor. Michael Argyle
was born in Nottingham, went to Nottingham High School and Emmanuel College,
Cambridge and was a navigator in the RAF. He was a pioneer in the study
of Social Psychology in Britain (his academic career began in 1952, when
he was appointed to the first lectureship in social psychology at the University
of Oxford). He has been engaged in research in various aspects of non-verbal
communication and social skills. With a series of hypotheses and experiments
to examine which non-verbal cues served which interactive social functions
and how, Michael Argyle opened up a whole new field of inquiry.
He wrote more than 25 books on a wide variety of topics (cooperation,
happiness, lei-sure, social interaction, social relationships, body language,
gaze, mutual gaze and relig-ious faith). Michael Argyle is the author
of The Scientific Study of Social Behaviour, Psychology and Social Problems,
Social Interaction, The Social Psychology of Work, Bodily Communication,
Gaze and Mutual Gaze (jointly with Mark Cook), The Social Psychology of
Religion (jointly with B. Beit-Hallahmi), Social Skills and Mental Health
(jointly with P. Trower and B. Bryant), Social Situations (jointly with
A. Furnham and J.A. Graham). He helped to found the British Journal of
Social and Clinical Psychology. He was the Social Psychology Editor (1961-1967),
the editor of the Pergamon Press In-ternational Studies in Experimental
Social Psychology. He was Chairman of the Social Psychology Section of
the British Psychological Society (1964-1967 and 1972-1974). Michael Argyle
was a member of the editorial board of Scientific Journal Facta Univer-sitatis
(Philosophy, Sociology and Psychology Series), University of Nis,
Yugoslavia (2002).
Michael Argyle was a strong family man who enjoyed being with his four
children Miranda, Nicholas, Rosalind and Ophelia.
Aleksandra Kostić
