Com Theory Ch8

Front 1

Interactional theory (pragmatic theory)

Back 1

x

Front 2

Paul Watzlawick and his research with distressed families

Back 2

x

Front 3

General systems theory (by van Bertlanffy)

Back 3

x

Front 4

Communication systems

Back 4

All parts are interrelated
Systems are organized wholes
The whole is more than the sum of the parts
Systems strive for, but never achieve, equilibrium

Front 5

Systems strive for, but never achieve, equilibrium

Back 5

Homeostasis: the ongoing process of working to achieve equilibrium by maintaining the status quo
Dynamic equilibrium: A more realistic model that acknowledges the need for change and the fact of change while still reflecting the desire for stability and predictability

Front 6

Openness (of a system, see p. 165)

Back 6

x

Front 7

Levels of meaning

Back 7

All statements operate on multiple lvls of meaning/ reflect context of relationship btwn communicators
Content meaning—literal meaning of utterance
Relationship meaning—what a given utterance means in the context of a given relationship; “This is who I am in relation to you; this is who you r n relation 2 me; this is who we r together” (167)
Relationship-level messages: power, affection, responsiveness

Front 8

Metacommunication

Back 8

x

Front 9

Punctuation

Back 9

Demand-withdraw or pursuer-distance pattern
Punctuation: process designating when episodes start/stop
Gramm punct changes meaning of our words. Right? Right!
May involve attributing one’s own behavior to another person, who becomes the person who “started it”
Nag-withdrawal or Guilt-depression
Patterns function as strange loops maintain dysfunctional relationship patterns rather transfrm them n2 sumthin reparable

Front 10

Communication and power

Back 10

All communication features elements of power
Power is fluid and contested, never fixed
Communication is either symmetrical (of equal power) or complementary (of different levels of power)

Front 11

One up, one down, and one across

Back 11

x

Front 12

Parallel relationships

Back 12

x

Front 13

Dialectical Theory

Back 13

x

Front 14

Dialectics

Back 14

Dialectics are contradictory or opposing tensions” (173)
“Dialectics are natural, normal, even inevitable dynamics in human relationships” (173)
“[T]ensions between contradictory impulses are continuous and have no ultimate resolution or endpoint” (174)
Dialectics is conceived, then, as an always ongoing, and in principle unfinalizable, process of negotiating tensions

Front 15

Dialectical moments

Back 15

We can experience “dialectical moments” (Baxter calls these “aesthetic moments”) where tensions seem to fade and partners feel a “fleeting moment of wholeness” (“A Tale” 186)

Front 16

Contradiction, esp. the notion that “each impulse needs the contradictory one” (p. 174)

Back 16

Contradiction exists when each opposing pole requires the other (for there to be privacy, there must also be…?)

Front 17

Process

Back 17

x

Front 18

Responses to dialectics

Back 18

Selection (focus solely on one of the poles)
Separation (assigning specific spheres for each tension, such as being open about work but not about family)
Neutralization (compromise)
Reframing (“our differences are what connect us”)