The mitigation of interpersonal behavior

Theorists since D. Bakan (1966) have advocated the importance of mitigation for successful adaptation within the interpersonal domain. Although mitiga tion has previously been conceptualized as a balance between agency and com munion (interdimensional mitigation), the cireumplex framework suggests tha t mitigation may also be conceptualized as a balance within agency and a ba lance within communion (intradimensional mitigation). In the two present st udies, participants collected records of their interpersonal behavior and a ffect subsequent to their social interactions for a period of 20 days. Rand om coefficient procedures were then used to examine these two contrasting m odels of mitigation in the prediction of affect. No empirical evidence of i nterdimensional mitigation was found. The findings suggest that agency and communion were each mitigated intradimensionally through moderate levels of behavioral expression.