YOURS, MINE, AND OURS - MUTUAL ATTRIBUTIONS FOR NONVERBAL BEHAVIORS IN COUPLES INTERACTIONS

In this article, we argue that nonverbal cues act much like other beha viors in triggering attribution making in, couples' interactions. In a test of this contention with 60 couples, we found that negative behav iors were more Likely than positive nonverbal cues to be noticed, sati sfaction was related to attributions for positive behaviors, mutual at tributions for the same behaviors differed significantly, and self-oth er attributional differences were enhanced by relational satisfaction. These results extend previous applications of attribution theory by p roviding some validation for the use of attribution theories with nonv erbal behaviors and by showing that attribution making occurs in. a wa y that reflects the mutually occurring, dyadic level of interpersonal communication.