Scholarlink

<p>Interpersonal synchrony is increasingly conceptualized not as a static marker of rapport but as a dynamic, context-sensitive process that fluctuates across interactional phases to serve distinct relational functions. This study examined whether movement synchrony—absolute, non-absolute, client-leading, and counsellor-leading—was associated with therapeutic alliance in naturally occurring counselling sessions. Twenty-seven video recordings were analysed using motion energy analysis and windowed cross-correlation to compute synchrony coefficients for the full session and three temporal segments (beginning, middle and end). Alliance was assessed post-session via the Working Alliance Inventory. Bayesian Spearman correlations identified only client-leading synchrony as showing at least anecdotal evidence of association with alliance measures: negative correlations with Task and Global discrepancy scores (ρ ≈ −0.36, Bayesian Factor₁₀ &gt; 2.0) and a weak positive correlation with client-rated Bond (ρ = 0.29, Bayesian Factor₁₀ = 1.08). Full-session Bayesian regressions confirmed these directions but revealed substantial uncertainty (95% highest density intervals consistently including zero). Temporal segmentation uncovered a gradient in directional evidence: probabilities of negative/positive associations remained near chance during the beginning segment (≈ 50%) but increased during the middle (71–91%) and end segments (74–78%). Crucially, segment-specific analyses revealed nuanced patterns: while the association with Bond scores showed a negative tendency in the middle segment (contrasting with the full-session positive trend), the associations with Task and Global difference scores demonstrated consistent negative directional tendencies in the middle and end segments, indicating that higher client-leading synchrony correlated with increasingly unilateral positive appraisals from clients relative to counsellors. All models explained limited variance (R² = 0.03–0.13), and extended models incorporating session order and counsellor effects showed inferior predictive accuracy (ΔELPD &lt; 0). Such results might indicate that global averaging obscures phase-specific dynamics, supporting the use of temporally segmented approaches to analyse nonverbal synchrony as a flexible mechanism of relational coordination.</p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

The Temporal Flow of Interaction: Interpersonal Synchronization and Alliance Perception Across Session Parts

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年7月11日

查看全文
  • Galina Oreshina

摘要

Interpersonal synchrony is increasingly conceptualized not as a static marker of rapport but as a dynamic, context-sensitive process that fluctuates across interactional phases to serve distinct relational functions. This study examined whether movement synchrony—absolute, non-absolute, client-leading, and counsellor-leading—was associated with therapeutic alliance in naturally occurring counselling sessions. Twenty-seven video recordings were analysed using motion energy analysis and windowed cross-correlation to compute synchrony coefficients for the full session and three temporal segments (beginning, middle and end). Alliance was assessed post-session via the Working Alliance Inventory. Bayesian Spearman correlations identified only client-leading synchrony as showing at least anecdotal evidence of association with alliance measures: negative correlations with Task and Global discrepancy scores (ρ ≈ −0.36, Bayesian Factor₁₀ > 2.0) and a weak positive correlation with client-rated Bond (ρ = 0.29, Bayesian Factor₁₀ = 1.08). Full-session Bayesian regressions confirmed these directions but revealed substantial uncertainty (95% highest density intervals consistently including zero). Temporal segmentation uncovered a gradient in directional evidence: probabilities of negative/positive associations remained near chance during the beginning segment (≈ 50%) but increased during the middle (71–91%) and end segments (74–78%). Crucially, segment-specific analyses revealed nuanced patterns: while the association with Bond scores showed a negative tendency in the middle segment (contrasting with the full-session positive trend), the associations with Task and Global difference scores demonstrated consistent negative directional tendencies in the middle and end segments, indicating that higher client-leading synchrony correlated with increasingly unilateral positive appraisals from clients relative to counsellors. All models explained limited variance (R² = 0.03–0.13), and extended models incorporating session order and counsellor effects showed inferior predictive accuracy (ΔELPD < 0). Such results might indicate that global averaging obscures phase-specific dynamics, supporting the use of temporally segmented approaches to analyse nonverbal synchrony as a flexible mechanism of relational coordination.