Cracking the Code: Relational Dominance and Predictability Across Developmental Stages

Dominance is an individual’s place in the social hierarchy, which is viewed as a dynamic state, rather than a fixed trait. During an argument, asymmetry of predictability is measured through various nonverbal communication cues. This chapter will discuss the nonverbal aspects of conflict resolution, mutual vs. unilateral influence, and dominance in terms of nonverbal cues of predictability (e.g., eye gaze, silence, voice loudness). Essentially, the dominant person in an argument has behaviors that are less predictable, while the followers are more predictable. Mutual influence refers to each person’s behavior being predicted by the others, whereas unilateral influence refers to one person’s behavior predicting the response of another, but not the inverse. In that case, there is collective monologue, rather than interpersonal dialogue. To further understand the role of nonverbal cues during arguments, an interpersonal study about disagreement measured relational stage and relational dominance. Participants were asked about nonverbal cues, such as “My partner looked more at me during the argument rather than the reverse.” The findings indicate that various measures of dominance were reflected through the growth and decay stages of relationships. In addition, awareness of self and other dominance is affected by how people perceive the characteristics of dominance.