Analysis of a paradoxical logic: a case study.

Abstract

A case study of a normally functioning married couple was conducted to investigate the relation between their logic and their communication patterns. Two communication theories, the Interactional View and the Coordinated Management of Meaning, were employed in an analysis of the couple's logic and communication. A triangulated methodology, consisting of interviews, written self-reports, and role-playing, was used to elicit the couple's constitutive and regulative rules. The discovery of paradoxical rules led to several propositions concerning the circular relation between communication and socially created realities. Specifically, the analysis revealed paradoxical rules associated with restricted episodes in which the couple could not obtain their goal of eliminating conflict.