This study examines messages that problem disclosers and supportive listeners enact during conversations about everyday stressors. We coded 402 dyadic interactions between strangers, friends, and romantic couples using Stiles’s (1992) verbal response modes (VRM) and Burleson’s (1982) verbal person centeredness (PC) typology to explore whether (a) listener and discloser utterances coalesce into types of speaking turns, (b) listener turn types vary in person-centered quality, (c) listener turns relate to discloser responses, and (d) discloser responses relate to listener turns. Analyses revealed a typology for both listener and discloser turns: acknowledgment, advisement, question, elaboration, hedged disclosure, and reflection. The relative proportion of those types varied as a function of conversational role and relationship context, and these speech acts varied only minimally in PC. Configural frequency analyses revealed four greater-than-chance contingencies across data sets. The discussion highlights implications for a dyadic and dynamic understanding of supportive communication.
This study demonstrates how sequence analysis, which is a method for identifying common patterns in categorical time series data, illuminates the nonlinear dynamics of dyadic conversations by describing chains of behavior that shift categorically, rather than incrementally. When applied to interpersonal interactions, sequence analysis supports the identification of conversational motifs, which can be used to test hypotheses linking patterns of interaction to conversational antecedents or outcomes. As an illustrative example, this study evaluated 285 conversations involving stranger, friend, and dating dyads in which one partner, the discloser, communicated about a source of stress to a partner in the role of listener. Using sequence analysis, we identified three five-turn supportive conversational motifs that had also emerged in a previous study of stranger dyads: discloser problem description, discloser problem processing, and listener-focused dialogue. We also observed a new, fourth motif: listener-focused, discloser questioning. Tests of hypotheses linking the prevalence and timing of particular motifs to the problem discloser’s emotional improvement and perceptions of support quality, as moderated by the discloser’s pre-interaction stress, offered a partial replication of previous findings. The discussion highlights the value of using sequence analysis to illuminate dynamic patterns in dyadic interactions.
more » « less- Award ID(s):
- 1749255
- PAR ID:
- 10361512
- Publisher / Repository:
- SAGE Publications
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Social and Personal Relationships
- Volume:
- 39
- Issue:
- 10
- ISSN:
- 0265-4075
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 3155-3179
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
more » « less
-
Abstract This article articulates conceptual and methodological strategies for studying the dynamic structure of dyadic interaction revealed by the turn-to-turn exchange of messages between partners. Using dyadic time series data that capture partners’ back-and-forth contributions to conversations, dynamic dyadic systems analysis illuminates how individuals act and react to each other as they jointly construct conversations. Five layers of inquiry are offered, each of which yields theoretically relevant information: (a) identifying the individual moves and dyadic spaces that set the stage for dyadic interaction; (b) summarizing conversational units and sequences; (c) examining between-dyad differences in overall conversational structure; (d) describing the temporal evolution of conversational units and sequences; and (e) mapping within-dyad dynamics of conversations and between-dyad differences in those dynamics. Each layer of analysis is illustrated using examples from research on supportive conversations, and the application of dynamic dyadic systems analysis to a range of interpersonal communication phenomena is discussed.more » « less
-
Solomon, Denise Haunani ; Brinberg, Miriam ; Bodie, Graham ; Jones, Susanne ; Ram, Nilam (Ed.)Conversations between people are where, among other things, stressors are amplified and attenuated, conflicts are entrenched and resolved, and goals are advanced and thwarted. What happens in dyads’ back-and-forth exchanges to produce such consequential and varied outcomes? Although numerous theories in communication and in social psychology address this question, empirical tests of these theories often operationalize conversational behavior using either discrete messages or overall features of the conversation. Dynamic systems theories and methods provide opportunities to examine the interdependency, self-stabilization, and self-organization processes that manifest in conversations over time. The dynamic dyadic systems perspective exemplified by the articles in this special issue (a) focuses inquiry on the turn-to-turn, asynchronous exchange of messages between two partners, (b) emphasizes behavioral patterns within and the structural and temporal organization of conversations, and (c) adapts techniques used in analysis of intensive longitudinal data to identify and operationalize those dynamic patterns. As an introduction to the special issue, this paper describes a dynamic dyadic systems perspective on conversation and discusses directions for future research, such as applications to humancomputer interaction, family communication patterns, health care interventions, and group deliberation.more » « less
-
more » « less
Although research suggests distressed individuals benefit from others’ empathy, it is unclear how an individual’s level of empathy influences dyadic responses during emotional situations. In the current study, female participants ( N = 140; 70 dyads) were paired with a stranger. One member of each dyad (the experiencer) was randomly assigned to undergo a stressful task and disclose negative personal experiences to their partner (the listener). Experiencers paired with listeners higher in dispositional emotional empathy had less negative affect during emotional disclosure and lower sympathetic nervous system reactivity during the stressful task and disclosure. Listeners higher in emotional empathy reported more negative affect in response to their partner’s distress. Furthermore, for listeners higher in emotional empathy, those who more accurately rated their partner’s emotions were more physiologically influenced by their partners. Findings shed light on interpersonal functions of empathy and suggest a stranger’s level of emotional empathy regulates distressed partner’s emotions and physiology.
-
During interpersonal interactions, conversational moves can help people establishcommon ground ---a shared frame of reference to support communication. Neurodiverse conversation dyads that include autistic and non-autistic members can experience challenges in creating and maintaining such a shared frame of reference due to differing communication and cognitive styles. We conducted a design study to understand conversational patterns among neurodiverse dyads and then used those patterns to co-design concepts for supporting the creation and maintenance of common ground by those conversation pairs. Our study involved two activities with participants: (1) a paired interview with autistic adults and a trusted conversation partner that used a novel swimlane visual elicitation activity, and (2) a remote design study during which the autistic participants designed a game intended to visualize and support neurodiverse conversation dynamics. We found that communication technology can scaffold neurodiverse dyads in locating common ground by supporting crucial individual and joint decision-making; clarification of language and emotions; and embodied sense-making of identity, relationships, and shared information. This project generated insights related to two distinct aspects of designing assistive Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to support autistic individuals: (1) the ability for visual elicitation activities to help autistic individuals recognize interaction patterns, gain a deeper understanding of other's perspectives, and imagine more desirable alternatives, and (2) the importance of recognizing and supporting multi-dimensional aspects of communication practices (i.e., social, emotional, sensory) in establishing and maintaining shared points of reference for neurodiverse conversation dyads.more » « less
