Watching a television soap opera may give you some insight about what relational dialectics really is. The tension, the struggle, the messiness…No, this was not yesterday's episode of "As the World Turns," but the highlights of what relational dialectics is all about. As discussed in Chapter 14 of Em Griffin's A First Look at Communication, relational dialectics is a study of the intimate communication that takes place in close relationships.

Leslie Baxter and Barbara Montgomery have done extensive research to predict interpersonal interaction. The two have focused their studies mainly on the tensions in romantic relationships. Baxter and Montgomery distinguished three typical dialectical tensions; Connectedness and Separateness, Certainty and Uncertainty, and Openness and Closedness, which will be discussed further in this web page.

Research further into Relational Dialectics with Ky

Look into Shannon's Applications of the theory

Read the Discussion from Chad