Initial goals, goal trajectories, and serial argument resolvability: A growth curve analysis

Abstract

This study examines dyadic patterns of goal pursuit during a serial argument interaction and their associations with perceived argument resolvability. The authors utilize a growth curve framework to highlight how both initial importance and trajectories (i.e., over‐time increases/decreases) of goal importance predicted perceived resolvability. Seventy‐six heterosexual couples discussed a current serial argument and reported their goals at 1‐min increments, using a video‐assisted recall method. Both initial importance and increases in actors' partner‐focused goals were positively associated with perceived resolvability, and increases in a partners' self‐focused goal importance across the course of the interaction were negatively associated with actors' postinteraction resolvability perceptions. Results suggest that partners should attend to both initial goals and trajectories of goal pursuit during argumentative interactions.

Initial goals, goal trajectories, and changes in perceived resolvability during serial arguments

“…T. Worley and Samp (2018) proposed a model of goal variability in serial arguments. Within this model, communicators' goals vary in both their initial levels of importance and trajectories of goal importance over the course of an interaction.…”

“…In one study, people who entered a serial argument episode focused on positive goals generally experienced more progress toward resolution than those who entered an argument focused on negative goals (T. R. Worley & Samp, 2016). Accordingly, initial goals can help define the direction of an argument, for good or ill. T. Worley and Samp (2018) observed that the initial importance of individuals' partner‐focused goals was positively associated with their postinteraction perceptions of a serial argument's resolvability.…”

“…Because interaction is a dyadic phenomenon, one's argument outcomes depend not only on one's own goals but also on a partner's. T. Worley and Samp (2018) observed that individuals' increasing importance of partner‐focused goals positively predicted their own postargument perceptions of resolvability. Conversely, a partner's increasingly prioritized self‐focused goals were negatively associated with individuals' postargument resolvability ratings.…”

“…This study takes the view that goal shifts are neither inherently harmful nor beneficial for arguers; rather, the impact of goal shifts depends on how they shift over time. Drawing on a recently articulated model of goal variability in conflict (T. Worley & Samp, 2018), this study proposes that argument outcomes (specifically perceived resolvability of serial arguments) depend on both initial importance and over‐time trajectories of arguers' conversational goals. Specifically, it proposes that over‐time characteristics of both individuals' own and their partners' goals can move perceptions of serial arguments toward or away from resolvability.…”

“…In the sections that follow, this study reviews the context of serial arguing, discusses how both individuals' and partners' initial goals and goal trajectories can alter incremental perceptions of argument resolvability in an argument episode, and reports a dyadic interaction study examining these phenomena. In doing so, it aims to replicate initial tests of the goal variability model of conflict (T. Worley & Samp, 2018), using refined measures and multiple measurements of perceived resolvability to test how arguers' initial goals and goal trajectories can shift perceptions of resolvability during the course of a serial argument episode.…”