Interpersonal Adaptation Theory
Encyclopedia
Interpersonal Adaptation Theory (IAT) is sort of a theory
of theories. Multiple theories attempt to describe certain interactions and parts of an interaction in great detail, while IAT, encompassing all of those other theories, makes predictions throughout the entire course of the interaction. For this reason, this theory is often referred to as the Interaction Adaptation Theory. It states that people begin an interaction with a combination of expectations, requirements, and desires
.
, Lesa Stern, and Leesa Dillman published a book called Interpersonal Adaptation: Dyadic Interaction Patterns in which they described their findings on a "new" theory which drew from the results of previous theories.
These theories include but are not limited to:
These previous theories combined with empirical evidence that resulted from their own studies, birthed The Interpersonal Adaptation Theory.
Divergence
- the opposite of convergence; becoming more dissimilar
Mirroring
- a person behavior becomes identical to the other's
Compensation - a person will react dissimilar to anothers response
Reciprocity
- a person will react in a similar way to another person's reaction
comes to her husband when he has hurt her emotionally, because he has not been spending enough time with her before he is about to deploy
, she may expect him to get defensive, need him to not get mad thus spending even less time with her, and want him to understand her pain. Now these factors are based upon a mixture of biological, (most likely unconcsiously presumed or performed), and socially learned behaviors. For example, expectations will normally be based upon prior social interactions or even social norms, where possibly a need for safety maybe more prominently based on a biological need for survival (Burgoon et al., 1995).
Another example of a biological need for survival could be the use of behavior matching or mirroring
. These items become convergence over time, as two interactants engage in interactions multiple times. In our above example, according to IAT, if he responds in the manner that she needs and wants or even better, she will reciprocate his attitude
and posture
to mirror his. The theory states that the reason for that this reciprocity occurs, is because of humans need for survival, and how keeping and maintaining those relationships are very important to that survival. However, if the airman reacts how his wife expects, responding opposite to her wants and needs, she will try to counteract that, to descalate the situation. The use of compensation is the most effective for survival in this situation. When situations occur like this often, divergence
begins to occur, where the wife may assume a role of "fire extinguisher" as she may have to continually put out fires in the relationship. Once again, all of this occurs in accordance with her need to survive (Guerrero & Floyd, 2006).
1. There is an unconscious
, inborn need to adapt interaction styles
2. Biologically, it is advantageous for survival to and synchronize, except in situations where divergence
is essential to deescalate a situation
3. and approach drives are not constant but are rather cyclical
4. For social survival, the goal is reciprocity
5. Communicationally, a mixture of reciprocity
and compensation
may occur
6. Conscious, or as Burgoon et al. puts it, strategic adjustments will be limited to a number of factors:
7. When biological, psychological, and social
elements combine, limits are set, which create patterns that largely result in synchronization
8. Certain variable obviously influence interaction adaptation
9. Predictions for the general population are more beneficial than predictions based on isolated circumstances
Now, based on those principles, Burgoon and her colleagues break interactions into a sort of mathematical model.
Requirements (R)
Expectations (E)
Desires (D)
Interaction Position (IP)
Actual Behavior (A)
R + E + D = IP
A person enters an interaction with an IP, which consists of either the behavior of the person or a prediction of the partner's behavior, but the partner's actual behavior may be different than the prediction. Thus, Interpersonal Adaptation Model makes two predictions. If the actual behavior of an interactant is more positive than a person's prediction (much like a positive violation in EVT) of the interactant's IP, then the person will converge their behavior to the interactant's. However, if the person's actual behavior is more negative, than the person will diverge with the interactant's behavior in the hopes that they may reciprocate that behavior back. The goal in the whole process is to minimize the gap between the A and IP.
To sum it up in another way: a stable interaction is described as one that IP and A equal. IAT predicts that if at any point, either interactant wants it to continue to be stable, IP does not equal A then, one of the interactants changes their IP. This change is both to minimize the gap between IP and A, and by changing their IP, they hope that their partner will notice the difference between IP and A, thus changing A. Burgoon et al., describes this as a "Follow the Leader" entrainment principle. This is a strategic adaptation which was introduced by Ickes et al., in 1982.
Theory
The English word theory was derived from a technical term in Ancient Greek philosophy. The word theoria, , meant "a looking at, viewing, beholding", and referring to contemplation or speculation, as opposed to action...
of theories. Multiple theories attempt to describe certain interactions and parts of an interaction in great detail, while IAT, encompassing all of those other theories, makes predictions throughout the entire course of the interaction. For this reason, this theory is often referred to as the Interaction Adaptation Theory. It states that people begin an interaction with a combination of expectations, requirements, and desires
Desire (emotion)
Desire is a sense of longing for a person or object or hoping for an outcome. Desire is the fire that sets action aflame. The same sense is expressed by emotions such as "craving" or "hankering". When a person desires something or someone, their sense of longing is excited by the enjoyment or the...
.
Background
In 1995, Judee K. BurgoonJudee K. Burgoon
Judee K. Burgoon is an American academic. She is Professor of Communication and Professor of Family Studies and Human Development at the University of Arizona...
, Lesa Stern, and Leesa Dillman published a book called Interpersonal Adaptation: Dyadic Interaction Patterns in which they described their findings on a "new" theory which drew from the results of previous theories.
These theories include but are not limited to:
- Affiliative Conflict Theory (ACT) - Argyle & Dean (1965) - states that individuals have needs for both affiliationNeed for affiliationThe Need for affiliation is a term that was popularized by David McClelland and describes a person's need to feel a sense of involvement and "belonging" within a social group; McClellend's thinking was strongly influenced by the pioneering work of Henry Murray who first identified underlying...
and autonomyAutonomyAutonomy is a concept found in moral, political and bioethical philosophy. Within these contexts, it is the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decision... - Expectancy Violations TheoryExpectancy violations theoryExpectancy Violations Theory sees communication as the exchange of information that is high in relational content and can be used to violate the expectations of another, who will perceive the exchange either positively or negatively depending on the liking between the two people. Expectancy...
(EVT) - Burgoon (1978) - an interaction can be described positively or negatively based on an individuals expectations and the actual behavior of the other person - Norm of Reciprocity - out of social obligation, an individual will respond in the same manner as another
- Discrepancy Arousal Theory (DAT) - Cappella & Green (1982) - predicts that discrepancies from expected behavior patterns produce arousal change
- Cognitive Valence TheoryCognitive Valence TheoryCognitive valence theory is a theoretical framework that describes and explains the process of intimacy exchange within a dyad relationship. Peter A. Andersen, PhD created the cognitive valence theory to answer questions regarding intimacy relationships among colleagues, close friends and intimate...
(CVT) - Anderson (1985) - describes and explains the process of intimacy exchange within a dyad relationship - Sequential Functional Model - explains the stability of interaction and how each interactant accommodates the other
- Motor Mimicry - describes an interaction and how an interactant will mimic another, usually out of empathy, or perceived empathy
- Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) - Gallois et al. (1991) and Giles (1973) - studies the way an individual interacts with another based on the situation the interaction takes place in
- Arousal-Labeling Model - Patterson (1976) - external factors influence how an individual will react in any given interaction
These previous theories combined with empirical evidence that resulted from their own studies, birthed The Interpersonal Adaptation Theory.
IAT Definitions
Convergence- the act of becoming more alike as a relationship progressesDivergence
Divergence
In vector calculus, divergence is a vector operator that measures the magnitude of a vector field's source or sink at a given point, in terms of a signed scalar. More technically, the divergence represents the volume density of the outward flux of a vector field from an infinitesimal volume around...
- the opposite of convergence; becoming more dissimilar
Mirroring
Mirroring (psychology)
Mirroring is the behaviour in which one person copies another person usually while in social interaction with them. It may include miming gestures, movements, body language, muscle tensions, expressions, tones, eye movements, breathing, tempo, accent, attitude, choice of words/metaphors and other...
- a person behavior becomes identical to the other's
Compensation - a person will react dissimilar to anothers response
Reciprocity
Norm of reciprocity
The norm of reciprocity is the social expectation that people will respond to each other in kind—returning benefits for benefits, and responding with either indifference or hostility to harms. The social norm of reciprocity often takes different forms in different areas of social life, or in...
- a person will react in a similar way to another person's reaction
Basics of IAT
As stated earlier, people enter into interactions with others with a combination of expectations, requirements, and desires. A person's expectations refer to how they assume another will respond in a given situation. A person's requirements are how they need the other person to respond; and a person's desires are how they want the other person to respond. For example, when a wife of an airmanAirman
An airman is a member of the air component of a nation's armed service. In the United States Air Force and the Royal Air Force , it can also refer to a specific enlisted rank...
comes to her husband when he has hurt her emotionally, because he has not been spending enough time with her before he is about to deploy
Military deployment
Military deployment is the movement of armed forces and their logistical support infrastructure around the world.-United States:The United States Military defines the term as follows:...
, she may expect him to get defensive, need him to not get mad thus spending even less time with her, and want him to understand her pain. Now these factors are based upon a mixture of biological, (most likely unconcsiously presumed or performed), and socially learned behaviors. For example, expectations will normally be based upon prior social interactions or even social norms, where possibly a need for safety maybe more prominently based on a biological need for survival (Burgoon et al., 1995).
Another example of a biological need for survival could be the use of behavior matching or mirroring
Mirroring (psychology)
Mirroring is the behaviour in which one person copies another person usually while in social interaction with them. It may include miming gestures, movements, body language, muscle tensions, expressions, tones, eye movements, breathing, tempo, accent, attitude, choice of words/metaphors and other...
. These items become convergence over time, as two interactants engage in interactions multiple times. In our above example, according to IAT, if he responds in the manner that she needs and wants or even better, she will reciprocate his attitude
Attitude (psychology)
An attitude is a hypothetical construct that represents an individual's degree of like or dislike for something. Attitudes are generally positive or negative views of a person, place, thing, or event— this is often referred to as the attitude object...
and posture
Human position
Human positions refers to the different positions that the human body can take.There are several synonyms that refer to the human position, often used interchangeably, but having specific flavors....
to mirror his. The theory states that the reason for that this reciprocity occurs, is because of humans need for survival, and how keeping and maintaining those relationships are very important to that survival. However, if the airman reacts how his wife expects, responding opposite to her wants and needs, she will try to counteract that, to descalate the situation. The use of compensation is the most effective for survival in this situation. When situations occur like this often, divergence
Divergence
In vector calculus, divergence is a vector operator that measures the magnitude of a vector field's source or sink at a given point, in terms of a signed scalar. More technically, the divergence represents the volume density of the outward flux of a vector field from an infinitesimal volume around...
begins to occur, where the wife may assume a role of "fire extinguisher" as she may have to continually put out fires in the relationship. Once again, all of this occurs in accordance with her need to survive (Guerrero & Floyd, 2006).
Theory
First, there are nine principles which guide IAT stated by Burgoon et al. in their book, which are as follows:1. There is an unconscious
Unconscious mind
The unconscious mind is a term coined by the 18th century German romantic philosopher Friedrich Schelling and later introduced into English by the poet and essayist Samuel Taylor Coleridge...
, inborn need to adapt interaction styles
2. Biologically, it is advantageous for survival to and synchronize, except in situations where divergence
Divergence
In vector calculus, divergence is a vector operator that measures the magnitude of a vector field's source or sink at a given point, in terms of a signed scalar. More technically, the divergence represents the volume density of the outward flux of a vector field from an infinitesimal volume around...
is essential to deescalate a situation
3. and approach drives are not constant but are rather cyclical
4. For social survival, the goal is reciprocity
Reciprocity (social psychology)
Reciprocity in social psychology refers to responding to a positive action with another positive action, rewarding kind actions. People categorize an action as kind by viewing its consequences and also by the person's fundamental intentions. Even if the consequences are the same, underlying...
5. Communicationally, a mixture of reciprocity
Reciprocity (social psychology)
Reciprocity in social psychology refers to responding to a positive action with another positive action, rewarding kind actions. People categorize an action as kind by viewing its consequences and also by the person's fundamental intentions. Even if the consequences are the same, underlying...
and compensation
Compensation (psychology)
In psychology, compensation is a strategy whereby one covers up, consciously or unconsciously, weaknesses, frustrations, desires, feelings of inadequacy or incompetence in one life area through the gratification or excellence in another area. Compensation can cover up either real or imagined...
may occur
6. Conscious, or as Burgoon et al. puts it, strategic adjustments will be limited to a number of factors:
- a. Individual consistency in behavior style
- b. Internal causes of adjustments
- c. Poor self monitoring or monitoring of partner
- d. Inability to adjust performance
- e. Cultural differences in communication practices
7. When biological, psychological, and social
Social
The term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms...
elements combine, limits are set, which create patterns that largely result in synchronization
8. Certain variable obviously influence interaction adaptation
9. Predictions for the general population are more beneficial than predictions based on isolated circumstances
Now, based on those principles, Burgoon and her colleagues break interactions into a sort of mathematical model.
Requirements (R)
Expectations (E)
Desires (D)
Interaction Position (IP)
Actual Behavior (A)
R + E + D = IP
A person enters an interaction with an IP, which consists of either the behavior of the person or a prediction of the partner's behavior, but the partner's actual behavior may be different than the prediction. Thus, Interpersonal Adaptation Model makes two predictions. If the actual behavior of an interactant is more positive than a person's prediction (much like a positive violation in EVT) of the interactant's IP, then the person will converge their behavior to the interactant's. However, if the person's actual behavior is more negative, than the person will diverge with the interactant's behavior in the hopes that they may reciprocate that behavior back. The goal in the whole process is to minimize the gap between the A and IP.
To sum it up in another way: a stable interaction is described as one that IP and A equal. IAT predicts that if at any point, either interactant wants it to continue to be stable, IP does not equal A then, one of the interactants changes their IP. This change is both to minimize the gap between IP and A, and by changing their IP, they hope that their partner will notice the difference between IP and A, thus changing A. Burgoon et al., describes this as a "Follow the Leader" entrainment principle. This is a strategic adaptation which was introduced by Ickes et al., in 1982.