A Method of Measuring Structural Patterns of Dyadic Interpersonal Interaction

Abstract

The need of shifting sociological research orientation from the use of individuals as a unit to the emphasis on interpersonal relationships and interactions per se was noted by Coleman (1958). This urge primarily calls for a recognition that individuals are not socially independent and isolated from one another. Social world is essentially a complicated set of interpersonal relationships. Thus, the examination of structure of interpersonal relationship and interaction becomes one of the major concerns of sociological study. The emphasis on the need for structural analysis of interpersonal interaction was empirically and conceptually provoked by Blau (1962) and further elaboratd by Rogers and Bhowmik (1970-71) with a specific reference to the study o human communication. This paper is to continue those previous efforts with two main purposes: (1) to elaborate the types of interpersonal interaction in terms of attributes of person and (2) to construct a method to measure the relative strengths of different structural types of interpersonal interaction.