Relational Dialectics Theory
Theory that pictures relationships as a constant process in motion as they feel the constant push and pull of conflicting desires throughout the life of the relationship. As people communicate in their relationships, they attempt to reconcile these confli
Leslie Baxter and Barbara Montgomery
Tow researchers that developed RDT with influence from the Russian Philosopher, Mikhail Bakhtin, who had developed a theory of personal dialogue, where the self is only possible when it is in context with another, communication being the means human exper
Assumptions
1. Relationships are not linear.
2. Relational life is characterized by change.
3. Contradiction is the fundamental fact of relational life.
4. Communication is central to organizing and negotiating relational contradictions.
Monologic Approach
An approach to framing contradiction as either/or.
Dualistic Approach
An approach framing contradiction as two separate entities.
Dialectic Approach
An approach framing contradiction as both/and.
Dialectical Unity
The way people use communication to make sense of contradictions in their relationships.
Totality
Acknowledges the interdependence of people in a relationship.
Contradiction
The central feature of the dialectic approach; refers to oppositions.
Motion
The processual nature of relationships.
Praxis
Refers to the choice-making capacity of humans.
Autonomy and Connection
An important relational tension that shows competing desires to be close and to be separate.
Openness and Protection
An important relational tension that shows competing desires to tell our secrets and to keep them hidden.
Novelty and Predictability
An important relational tension that shows our conflicting desires to have both stability and change.
Interactional Dialectics
Tensions resulting from and constructed by communication.
Contextual Dialectics
Tensions resulting from the place of the relationship within the culture.
Public and Private Dialectic
A contextual dialectic resulting from a private relationship and public life.
Real and Ideal Dialectic
A contextual dialectic resulting from the difference between idealized relationships and lived relationships.
Cyclic Alternation
A coping response to dialectic tensions; refers to changes over time.
Segmentation
A coping response to dialectic tension; refers to changes do to context.
Integration
A coping response to dialectical tensions; refers to synthesizing the opposition; composed of three strategies.
Neutralizing
A substrategy of integration; refers to compromising between oppositions.
Disqualifying
A substrategy of integration; refers to exempting certain issues from the general pattern.
Reframing
A substrategy of integration; refers to transforming the oppositions.