Methodology for Studying Family Interaction

Patterns of communication in normal and clinic families.

“…The clinic families show a significantly greater number of instances of simultaneous speaking than do normal families. This finding lends credence to earlier results showing greater amounts of conflict and less communication clarity in pathological families (e.g., Caputo, 1963;Farina & Dunham, 1963;Farina & Holzberg, 1968;Fisher, Boyd, Walker, & Sheer, 1959;Framo, 1965;Riskin, 1963Riskin, , 1964. The members of the clinic families seem less able to follow democratic techniques in reaching family decisions.…”

Transactional and Contextual Invalidation between the Parents of Disturbed Families: A Comparative Study

“…It also reflects the manner in which they utilize and distribute the interaction time. Although the “Meet” task takes place in a short period of time, there is already evidence that four to five minutes of family or dyadic conversation can reveal the usual patterns of an interactive system (18, 36, 56).…”

Family Implicit Rules, Shame, and Adolescent Prosocial and Antisocial Communication Behaviors

“…Families interact in redundant ways that become repetitive patterns, and out of those grows a shared but unexpressed understanding about rules or norms that govern family members’ behaviors. Rarely are such family rules anything but implicit (Riskin, 1963). Seldom are they written down or recorded like laws or rules put up for the public to see.…”