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Abstract

[Operationalization of Irwin Altman’s Behavior Language]

Compared to other observation systems and task classification systems. Irwin Altman’s behavior language till now only developed on the conceptual level seemed worthwhile operationalizing, thereby promoting its applicability. We discuss Altman’s originally proposed behavior (Tab. 2) and task classification system (Tab 2 & 3) as to their contents and advantages In an attempt to operationalize the behavior language we suggest: the refinement of the interaction unit, the elimination of some categories of the interaction form dimension, the scoring of the participant relationships dimensions as structural properties of the group and the creation of actor and referent patterns, furthermore the methodology and the results of our applications of the modified behavior language are discussed (Tab. 4 to 8 and Fig. 1) and a test of inter-observers reliability of our revised version is commented upon.