Abstract

The study investigated how individuals, regardless of sex, use deliberate strategies to gain positions of dominance in interpersonal relationships. The purpose of the research was to extend the concept of androgyny by examining whether dominance patterns in married couples' interactions differed according to role perceptions of the partners, rather than by biological sex differences alone. The conceptual framework for studying language behavior incorporated concepts of relational dominance and perceived role discrepancy. The approach was based on the claim that when considered in an interpersonal communication context, androgyny is more appropriately a characteristic of the dyadic system, rather than the individual.Specifically, the study investigated the structures and functions of participation in spontaneous interactions by partners, regardless of sex. The results supported hypotheses that interactional dominance patterns among couples vary systematically with members having different role characteristics. The findings indicated that in dyadic systems where either partner experienced perceptions of high role discrepancy, his or her abilities to dominate or at least violate rules of relational interaction (Sacks, Schegloff, & Jefferson, 1974) with a spouse were less than in systems where one partner had a lower relative role discrepancy perception.