| dc.description.abstract | Interpersonal rigidity is defined as the extremeness of an individual’s behaviour and
the narrowness of the behavioural repertoire measured according to the Interpersonal
Circumplex (Kiesler, 1983). While acknowledged as an important influence on
interpersonal behaviour, rigidity has been examined in very few studies to date. The
influence of interpersonal rigidity was therefore explored using sequential analytic
techniques designed to assess the impact of specific behaviours on the course of
ongoing interactions. Pairs of undergraduate students completed the Revised
Interpersonal Adjective Scales (lAS-R; Wiggins et al., 1988), from which their
rigidity scores were calculated. They then played a modified, sequential version of
the Prisoner’s Dilemma Game, set up so that the two dimensions of the Interpersonal
Circumplex (Dominance and Love) were reflected respectively in the choice of which
player went first on each turn, and whether to cooperate or compete (defect). In
general, vector length (rigidity) scores were either negatively or not related to indices
of sequential dominance, suggesting that rigid individuals are not those who control
interactions, but rather are those whose behaviour becomes more predictable from
that of more flexible individuals. In addition, the sequentially dominant participants
had more positive views o f their own and their partners’ behaviour, suggesting that
making others’ behaviour more predictable is somehow interpersonally satisfying.
Some alternative statistical techniques are suggested for future research to clarify
these somewhat counterintuitive relationships. | |
