B. Aubrey Fisher

The nature of complex communication system

Little is yet known regarding structured or patterned interaction in complex communication systems. Conceptualizing complexity of communication systems as “organized complexity” in time, this study analyzed a variety of communication systems at multiple levels of complexity. Results indicate that the amount of structure contributed by increasing levels of complexity varied from one analytical system to another. The triple interact was the most appropriate level of analysis for two systems, the double interact was appropriate for another, and the act most appropriate for two other systems.

A cyclical model of developing relationships: A study of relational control interaction

This study sought to discover whether a progressive pattern of relational control interaction was present during different phases of the ongoing interaction of newly acquainted pairs. Transcripts of interaction collected from fourteen dyads during a ten‐day concentrated isolation study were analyzed with RELCOM, a five‐category system of relational control modes. The interaction data were then analyzed with Markov statistics. Nine dyads exhibited a two‐stage cyclical model of relational development. The chief characteristic of the model is the recurring ebb and flow of competitive symmetrical interaction (↑+↑ + and ↑ — ↑ —) over five time periods while complementary (↑ — ↓ — and ↓ — ↑ —) and equivalent symmetrical (→→) patterns remained consistent throughout all time phases. This two‐stage cycle is suggested as a potential model to describe the successful development of relationships which achieve some stability. Cycling in and out of periods of competitive interaction may allow the social system to maint...

Content and relationship dimensions of communicative behavior: An exploratory study

Little is known about the interrelationship between content and relationship dimensions of communication and how they affect human interaction. The present study attempts to provide some empirical basis to be used to guide further inquiry into the correlates of content‐relationship interaction. A four‐dimensional content and a unindimensional relationship coding scheme were used to analyze human interaction. Data were subjected to Markov analyses using split‐half comparisons to discover potential patterns of interaction across time. The results generated several plausible hypotheses to serve as springboards for further research.

An interaction analysis of verbal innovative deviance in small groups

This analysis of verbal innovative deviance (VID) revealed that a significant proportion (27%) of group communication is deviant but not typically associated with a specific member or role. A process analysis of VID through successive phases of group decision making indicated that deviance appears to function differently in each phase, generating additional VID during Conflict and Emergence and appearing as a “norm” of group interaction during those periods. The process perspective revealed the changing function of VID in interaction patterns across time. The present study indicates that innovative deviance is susceptible to meaningful observation from the perspective of communicative behaviors.

Content and relationship dimensions of communication in decision‐making groups

This study attempts to further inquiry into the content and relationship dimensions of communicative behaviors. Analyses of relational interaction patterns of five groups (previously divided into four decision‐making phases by content interaction analyses] were submitted to Markov data analyses testing for order, homogeneity and stationarity. These results were then compared with conclusions drawn from an earlier study which hypothesized five plausible correlations of content and relationship functions performed by interaction patterning. Most of the earlier hypotheses proved to be consistent with the present data analysis, while others were not. An additional correlation of the content and relationship dimensions of communicative behaviors is also suggested for the context of group decision making.

An Assessment of Group Trajectories: Analyzing Developmental Breakpoints.

This research investigated the nature of breakpoints in trajectories of group development, as outlined in Pooles Multiple Sequence Model of group development. After clarifying breakpoints as they exist in group interaction, the authors analyzed the utility of the concept of breakpoints as they function to signal groups to pursue new trajectories of development. An examination of group interaction revealed five tentative conclusions: (1) Trajectories of group development require maintenance through the repeated use of routing statements; (2) Trajectories are typically introduced and maintained by prospective routing statements; (3) Group development often follows a trial‐and‐error pattern of issue introduction which functions to affirm the existence of a developmental trajectory; (4) Agenda‐setting statements can lead to breakpoints if properly timed; and (5) Procedural statements may constitute breakpoints when associated with a substantive issue relevant to the groups task. Limitations of this study, a...

T-Group and Therapy Group Communication: An Interaction Analysis of the Group Process

Although speech and the exchange of verbal communication are ... the principal vehicles of group therapy, the formal attributes of either have been subjects of little or no research. ... As a result, the literature on group psychotherapy continues to suffer from a dearth of carefully assembled and analyzed data concerned with all formal aspects of group processes and tends to reflect in the main, only impressions, opinions and speculations [1967].