A dynamic systems exploration of affective self-organization processes during marital interaction: attractors, perturbations, and phase transitions

This study utilized a dynamic systems perturbation experiment to explore the self-organization properties of 23 married couples' continuous self-reports of their affective experience during a marital interaction episode. According to dynamic systems theory, patterns are hypothesized to emerge and stabilize as a result of the reciprocal interactions between elements ofa complex system. The affective climate generated by two spouses was hypothesized to be such a system. Participant spouses were asked to identify and discuss for 10 minutes a recent incident where they felt hurt or offended by their partner. At 10 minutes, the marital affective system was perturbed when spouses were signaled to open an envelope which invited them to share with their partner a time when they felt cared-for or supported. This conversation continued for seven minutes. Immediately following their conversation, spouses engaged in a recall procedure where they were seated at a television monitor and computer and, as they watched the split-screen video of their conversation, provided a continuous rating of their affective state during that conversation.

Using a recent graphical development in dynamic child development research, each spouse's affect data were plotted on a 5 x 5 state space grid. Pre-perturbation and post-perturbation graphs were developed for each couple. Eight naive raters individually sorted the resulting 46 graphs by shape into homogenous groups. From this sorting a proximity matrix was developed and cluster analysis applied in order to establish group assignment for all graphs. The cluster analysis was partitioned at five clusters, which were labeled as "disorganized," "neutral," "male positive," "female positive," and "positive."

The results suggest that, for the majority of these couples, their affect patterns resembled an attractor state, localized in a specific region of the state space. Furthermore, the perturbation was successful in moving all but six couples into a different affect pattern during the final seven minutes of their conversation, suggesting that the affective climate in marital relationships is a complex, dynamic system that has self-organizing properties. However, additional analyses indicated that no significant relationship between mean marital satisfaction scores and group assignment. The results are discussed in terms of their fit within a dynamic systems conceptual framework as well as the established marital interaction literature. Implications for researchers and clinicians are also discussed.