Cc. Wagner et al., ASSESSING THE INTERPERSONAL TRANSACTION CYCLE - CONVERGENCE OF ACTIONAND REACTION INTERPERSONAL CIRCUMPLEX MEASURES, Journal of personality and social psychology, 69(5), 1995, pp. 938-949
Contemporary interpersonal theory uses 2 models to represent the proce
ss and content of interpersonal transactions. The interpersonal transa
ction cycle is a dynamic model demonstrating the interaction between t
he overt behaviors and the covert intrapsychic experiences of 2 intera
cting individuals in action-reaction event chains. The interpersonal c
ircle is a static model codifying individual differences across variou
s interpersonal content domains (e.g., traits, acts, problems, impacts
). The present study used 150 pairs of undergraduates to demonstrate c
ross-observer structural convergence of 2 separate interpersonal circu
mplex inventories measuring the ''action'' and ''reaction'' components
of the transaction cycle, providing evidence that both components of
the cycle can be captured by existing circumplex measures, and allowin
g researchers to proceed on to more comprehensive tests of interperson
al theory.