Chapter 6: Relational Dialectics and Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Theoretical Foundations of Relational Dialectics

  • Definition and Overview of Relational Dialectics:

    • Relational Dialectics is a theoretical perspective arguing that communication creates, maintains, and changes our relationships and the surrounding social world.

    • Conversations center around an "object of meaning" that is actively constructed and negotiated through talk.

    • Communication is understood through a constitutive approach, meaning that interaction shapes and builds both the communicators and the relationship itself, rather than simply transmitting pre-existing facts.

  • Monologue versus Dialogue:

    • Monologue: Elevates one discourse over all others, suppressing alternative viewpoints and prioritizing a single perspective.

    • Dialogue: Involves multiple perspectives that build off one another and challenge one another, actively creating dynamic relational meaning.

  • Historical Context and Conceptual Foundations:

    • Baxter and Montgomery (1988): Formulated foundational work on relational dialectics, focusing on family communication through empirical interviews.

    • Dialogism (Bakhtin): Derived from the philosophical work of Mikhail Bakhtin, defining communication as an ongoing, unending set of structural tensions.

  • Related Communication Concepts:

    • Discourses: The different ways people talk about, frame, and conceptualize things.

    • Symbolic Interactionism: Connected theoretical framework examining how social meaning is formed through interactive symbols.

    • Self-Disclosure: Conceptualized as "mutual revelation," where individuals share personal information to discover similarities and shared interests.

Core Concepts and Nature of Dialectics

  • Essential Properties of Dialectics:

    • Dialectics consist of opposing poles located on the exact same continuum.

    • These opposing poles contradict one another while remaining entirely interdependent.

    • Although interdependent, these opposing forces work to cancel one another out due to competing internal motivations.

    • The fundamental psychological and social drive to belong is continuously experienced as ongoing dialectical tensions.

  • The Utterance Chain:

    • Defined as ongoing communication where every spoken utterance exists within a continuous chain, connected to past utterances and anticipating future responses.

  • Categorization of Dialectical Tensions:

    • Internal Dialectics: Tensions and contradictions that occur strictly within a relationship (e.g., between partners or family members).

    • External Dialectics: Tensions and contradictions that occur between the relational unit as a whole and the outside world or broader community.

Primary Relational Dialectical Tensions

  • 1. Integration versus Separation:

    • Internal Dimension (Connection vs. Autonomy):

      • Connection: The desire for integration and being a unified part of the family or romantic relationship unit, where individual identity is associated with the relationship.

      • Autonomy: The desire for independence, self-reliance, and maintaining a distinct identity separate from the relationship.

    • External Dimension (Inclusion vs. Seclusion):

      • Inclusion: The extent to which the relationship participates in and integrates into the greater community and social networks.

      • Seclusion: The desire of relational partners to isolate themselves from the community and enjoy private time together exclusively.

  • 2. Stability versus Change:

    • Internal Dimension (Certainty vs. Uncertainty):

      • Certainty: The need for routine, predictability, reliability, and comfort; individuals feel safe under established, predictable routines.

      • Uncertainty: The craving for spontaneity, novelty, excitement, and the unexpected; individuals can experience boredom when lacking new experiences.

      • Mechanisms for Managing Internal Tension:

        • Spiraling Inversion: Switching back and forth between certainty and uncertainty over time.

        • Segmentation: Compartmentalizing different domains of the relationship, applying predictability to some areas and novelty to others.

    • External Dimension (Conventionality vs. Uniqueness):

      • Conventionality: The desire for the relationship to conform to social expectations and demonstrate similarity to standard relationships in the community.

      • Uniqueness: The desire for the relationship to showcase its distinct qualities and be recognized as special or novel within the community.

  • 3. Expression versus Nonexpression:

    • Internal Dimension (Openness vs. Closedness):

      • Openness: The drive toward complete transparency, honesty, and continuous self-disclosure with partners or family members.

      • Closedness: The desire for personal privacy, topic avoidance, and boundaries, often driven by uncertainty regarding trust.

    • External Dimension (Revelation vs. Concealment):

      • Revelation: The impulse to share internal details, milestones, and personal aspects of the relationship with the outside community.

      • Concealment: The impulse to keep relational details, challenges, and internal dynamics private from the surrounding community.

Communication Interplay and Structural Dynamics

  • Power Disparities in Disclosures:

    • Dominant Disclosures: Disclosures that are granted greater weight, attention, and time during communication; these dominate interaction and define social meaning.

    • Marginalized Disclosures: Disclosures that are treated as peripheral, lacking power and structural influence within the conversation.

  • Separation of Discourses:

    • Occurs when opposing discourses operate individually without direct interaction or integration.

  • Interplay of Discourses:

    • Occurs when distinct, competing discourses are engaged simultaneously through four distinct communicative practices:

      • Negating: Direct rejection or dismissal of an opposing discourse.

      • Countering: Replacing an expected or dominant discourse with an alternative, opposing view.

      • Entertaining: Explicitly opening up possibilities to consider alternative discourses.

      • Transforming: Combining or reshaping opposing discourses into a completely new, synthesized meaning.

Foundations and Key Principles of Cognitive Dissonance Theory

  • Theoretical Background:

    • Developed by Leon Festinger (1957) within the field of Social Psychology.

    • Grounded in concepts of psychological conditioning, decision-making dynamics, and cognitive inconsistency.

    • Applies to situations where individuals experience internal conflict and cannot justify why a particular thought or behavior occurred.

  • Core Definitions:

    • Cognitive: Relating to mental processes and knowledge structures.

    • Cognitions: Discrete mental thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, or bits of knowledge.

    • Dissonance: A state of internal conflict characterized by psychological inconsistency between cognitive elements.

  • Characteristics and Conditions of Cognitive Dissonance:

    • Cognitive dissonance is inherently psychologically uncomfortable, creating tension that drives internal attempts at resolution.

    • Occurs when holding two incongruent or contradictory thoughts simultaneously.

    • Occurs when choosing one specific behavior over an alternative behavior that would have produced less dissonance.

    • Centers on analyzing the complex relationships and alignments between internal cognitions and observable actions.