Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 143-155).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo., 1998. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 196-201).

Leary (1957) presented a circumplex system to classify the entire domain of interpersonal behavior around two major axes - -dominance - submission and hostility-affection. The four quadrants of the Leary Circle have also been used to characterize four basic styles of relating. In addition to a classification system, Leary has also provided notions about the types of interpersonal behavior which are naturally elicited by, or complementary to, every type of behavior on the circumplex. Carson(1969) has summarized Leary's notions about interpersonal complementarity into one general hypothesis, which states that complementarity occurs on the basis of reciprocity in respect to dominance -submission and on the basis of correspondence in respect to hostility -affection. There has been some empirical validation of this hypothesis, and further empirical investigation was attempted in the present study. With regard to psychopathology, both Leary and Carson maintain that "normal" individuals are flexible in terms of the interpersonal styles they choose to adopt in relating to others, while disturbed individuals are much less flexible,, Because disordered individuals continually respond in the same style, they force others to respond to them in a self-image confirming, pathology-reinforcing fashion. The chief aim of the present study was to investigate the above conceptualization empirically. The general experimental procedure entailed presenting groups of undergraduate female subjects with sets of statements prepared to simulate "fixated" (stylistically limited) and "flexible" interactants. There were 8 content-controlled stimulus tapes, consisting of 36 statements each; and 10 subjects were randomly assigned to listen to each tape. The same actress performed the statements on each tape. Subjects were told to respond to each recorded statement they heard as if they were interacting with a real person, and their responses were recorded. After the subjects finished responding to the tapes, their responses to the first three, middle three, and last three statements were rated on 7 -point Dominance -Submission and Hostility-Affection scales by three independent raters. The rating system used by the raters was prepared for the experiment in order to overcome a number of shortcomings evidenced in previously employed methods to code interactions according to the Leary system. It was predicted that: (a) Complementarity, as hypothesized by Carson, would be evident in response to any given statements made in the same style. This should be true whether the interactant making the statement was fixated or flexible, (b) As the interaction proceeds from beginning to end, however, fixated interactants should elicit complementary responses more regularly and successfully than flexible interactants. (c) By the end of the interaction, when comparing the responses of subjects to identical statements made by fixated versus flexible interactants, differences should be evident; i.e. subjects responding to fixated interactants should be responding in a less variable and more complementary fashion than subjects responding to flexible interactants. The results provided confirmation only for that part of Carson's complementarity hypothesis stating that complementarity occurs on the basis of correspondence with respect to hostility-affection. All of the other predictions were not confirmed. The inter-rater reliability of the rating system was at a high level, and the experimental manipulation was shown to be effective; i.e. fixated and flexible interactants were simulated. Careful inspection of the pattern of the results pertaining to dominance - submission complementarity, and a re-examination of relevant empirical studies previously undertaken, suggested a reformulation of Carson's complementarity hypothesis when it pertains to dominance and submission. Explanations were offered which could account for the failure of all of the other predictions to be confirmed. Possible difficulties with both the conceptual foundations of the hypotheses and with the methodology employed in testing the hypotheses were considered in these explanations o The methodological attainments of the study--the rating system and the stimulus' tapes employed--were also discussed in some detail. Implications and suggestions for future research were presented throughout the Discussion section. / This thesis was digitized as part of a project begun in 2014 to increase the number of Duke psychology theses available online. The digitization project was spearheaded by Ciara Healy.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Psychology Dept., 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 105-126).

published_or_final_version / Psychology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The early stages of a relationship present an interdependence dilemma: People want to demonstrate interest, but are reluctant because trust is not yet established (Holmes, 1991). Five studies investigated the influence of attachment on how people navigate the interdependence dilemma focusing on the use of communal and exchange norms (Clark & Mills, 1979). In Study 1, compared to secure and avoidantly attached individuals, anxiously attached individuals avoided using exchange norms with a potential friend, presumably to signal interest in closeness. In Study 2, when a potential friend used communal norms (compared to exchange norms), anxious individuals felt more anxious and exhibited lower appearance self-esteem, whereas avoidant individuals viewed their partner as more negatively communal and liked their partner less. In Study 3, secure individuals accepted help from a potential friend, and did not feel the need to reciprocate, whereas avoidant individuals quickly reciprocated, presumably to clear their debt and to establish boundaries. Anxious individuals again felt anxious upon receiving help. Study 4 focused on emotion regulation and cognition. When a potential friend used communal norms (suggested working as a team), anxious individuals performed worse on a mental concentration task (ruminated) compared to secures. Moreover, lexical decision analyses revealed that proximity accessibility was associated with better performance for the less anxiously attached, and worse performance for the more anxiously attached, suggesting that thoughts about closeness dampened anxiety and rumination for the secures, but increased it for the anxious individuals. Finally, in Study 5, which focused on attributions, anxious individuals tended to monitor and appraise discrete events for their significance to relationship goals, and were more likely to infer relationship progress from discrete communal events. Moreover, anxious individuals made more relati

Few studies of interpersonal complementarity have examined individual differences that might moderate the relation between one person's behaviour and the other's response. The present research investigated the degree to which global perceptions of others (perceived interpersonal climates) moderated the relation between event-level perceptions of the other and behavioural response in social interactions. The influence of interpersonal perceptions on social behaviour was examined in two field studies; the first study was conducted with university undergraduates, and the second study was conducted with a community sample of working adults. Event-contingent recording procedures were used to collect information about participants' communal (agreeable---quarrelsome) and agentic (dominant---submissive) behaviours and perceptions of partner communion and partner agency. Based on hypotheses derived from interpersonal complementarity, it was expected that perceptions of communion would predict communal behaviour according to the principle of correspondence (agreeableness evokes agreeableness and hostility evokes hostility) and perceptions of agency would predict agentic behaviour according to the principle of reciprocity (dominance invites submissiveness and submissiveness invites dominance). As predicted, perceived interpersonal climates moderated the relation between perception of the other and behaviour in specific interactions. Perceived communion in an event predicted correspondence with regard to communal behaviour; this response was stronger for individuals who generally perceived others as cold-quarrelsome rather than warm-agreeable. Perceived agency in an event predicted reciprocity such that individuals responded to perceptions of dominance with more submissive behaviour and perceptions of submissiveness with more dominant behaviour; this response was stronger for individuals who generally perceived others as submissive, and this response was weak to non-existent for individuals who generally perceived others as dominant. The moderating effects of perceived interpersonal climates were independent of five-factor and interpersonal traits; global perceptions of others provided unique interpersonal information not captured by the five-factor model of personality. Both studies support the basic principles of complementarity while indicating that complementarity does not apply equally to all people. The present research shows that interpersonal perceptions are not only useful for studying behaviour within an event, but that global perceptions of others (perceived interpersonal climates) influence our reactions to the social environment.