INTRODUCTION TO THE SPECIAL SECTION ON STRUCTURAL-ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL-BEHAVIOR

The structural analysis of social behavior (SASB) model dissects inter personal and intrapsychic events into 3 underlying dimensions: (a) foc us (on other, on self with other, and on self with self): (b) affiliat ion (love vs. hate); and (c), interdependence (enmeshment or dominance -submission vs. differentiation or emancipate-separate). Accompanied b y predictive principles (similarity, opposition, complementarity, intr ojection, antithesis), the model can operationalize important aspects of a wide range of psychological events. Questionnaires, coding system s, and software permit the SASB model to be applied in a wide array of clinical and research contexts. It has been used by people of diverge nt theoretical persuasions including the interpersonal, cognitive-beha vioral, client-centered, psychoanalytic, expressive, family, and group approaches. In this article, the model and its predictive principles are reviewed, along with examples of research, clinical, and theoretic al applications. The articles in this section provide examples of espe cially creative and appropriate uses.