The Analysis of Dominance and Bidirectionality in Social Development

GOTTMAN, JoHN M., and RINGLAND, JAMES T. The Analysis of Dominance and Bidirectionality in Social Development. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1981, 52, 393-412. This paper is a reexamination of 2 concepts that have played a role in the direct observation of social interaction and the study of social development, namely, the concepts of dominance and bidirectionality. This paper argues that a reconceptualization based on the sequential character of social interaction would add much theoretical clarity to these 2 concepts. In this paper the sequential nature of social interaction is addressed by applying time-series analysis to redefine (as a function of social context) the concept of dominance as asymmetry in predictability in the behavior of 2 interacting individuals. The potential benefits of this redefinition are then discussed in the context of literature on children's social behavior with their peers. Bidirectionality in social interaction, defined as symmetrical predictability in behavior, is then discussed in the context of parent-infant interaction. A serious methodological problem is then raised, namely, the problem of autocorrelation in each person's behavior in making inferences about cross-correlation between people. Mathematical models and corresponding statistical procedures are presented to solve this problem. Procedures are discussed that address the concepts of cyclicity within a person and synchronicity between people who are interacting and that assess asymmetry and symmetry (i.e., dominance and bidirectionality) in social interaction. Previously published data on mother-infant play is then reexamined to illustrate the practical use of this approach. These techniques are, however, completely general for inferring relationships between 2 variables that change with time and thus may provide a foundation for the study of other developmental problems.