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The frequency of verbal interactions among members of small discussion groups has been carefully studied in experiments by Bales and his associates at Harvard and by Stephan and Mishler at Princeton. Stephan suggested that the data could be described by a simple exponential equation, which has intrigued several mathematical sociologists because of its apparent generality in providing a concise statement of experimental results. The present paper suggests that this result could be generated by a simple probabilistic process, which may have uses in other types of group interaction studies where an analogous structure prevails.
William Horvath (Fri,) studied this question.