Individual Thinking and Family Interaction

We studied the relationships among a set of variables derived from three experiments on family interaction and individual thinking. Twelve variables were factor analyzed, and factor scores were obtained for 14 of the families in our sample. The findings suggested grouping our variables into those that estimated experiential sensitivity of the family group and those that measured the pervasiveness of particular expressive forms. It was proposed that variables of shared experiential sensitivity in families are more closely and generally related, either as cause or effect, to the thinking of its members than variables of expressive form. The latter, it was postulated, had unique or distinctive function and meaning for each family, and this meaning could be estimated through use of the family's scores on the two experiential sensitivity factors.