Norm Formation in an Interdependent Dyad

Power use, interpersonal accommodation, and trading agreements were studied in a dyadic relationship involving a joint work task. In the trading agreements each member restrained his capability to disrupt the relationship in exchange for a similar restraint from the other member. In the relationship, a highpower person's capability to disrupt was based on a conflict of interest with a low-power person, whose capability to disrupt was based on defection to an alternative thereby hurting the high-power person. Conflict of interest, varied as high and low, was crossed with level of alternative, varied as attractive and unattractive, to yield a 2 x 2 factorial design. It was predicted and found (p < .05) that more interpersonal accommodation and trading agreements occurred when both members possessed relatively high disruptive capability than when one or neither member possessed high disruptive capability.