Interpersonal adaptation theory

Interpersonal adaptation theory (IAT) is sort of a theory of theories. Multiple theories attempt to describe certain interactions and parts of an interaction in great detail, while IAT, encompassing all of those other theories, makes predictions throughout the entire course of the interaction. For this reason, this theory is often referred to as the interaction adaptation theory. It states that people begin an interaction with a combination of expectations, requirements, and desires.

In 1995, Judee K. Burgoon, Lesa Stern, and Leesa Dillman published a book called Interpersonal Adaptation: Dyadic Interaction Patterns in which they described their findings on a "new" theory which drew from the results of previous theories. These theories include but are not limited to:

These previous theories combined with empirical evidence that resulted from their own studies, birthed the interpersonal adaptation theory.

As stated earlier, people enter into interactions with others with a combination of expectations, requirements, and desires. A person's expectations refer to how they assume another will respond in a given situation. A person's requirements are how they need the other person to respond; and a person's desires are how they want the other person to respond. For example, when a wife of an airman comes to her husband when he has hurt her emotionally, because he has not been spending enough time with her before he is about to deploy, she may expect him to get defensive, need him to not get mad thus spending even less time with her, and want him to understand her pain. Now these factors are based upon a mixture of biological, (most likely unconsciously presumed or performed), and socially learned behaviors. For example, expectations will normally be based upon prior social interactions or even social norms, where possibly a need for safety maybe more prominently based on a biological need for (Burgoon et al., 1995).

Another example of a biological need for survival could be the use of behavior matching or mirroring. These items become convergence over time, as two interactants engage in interactions multiple times. In our above example, according to IAT, if he responds in the manner that she needs and wants or even better, she will reciprocate his attitude and posture to mirror his. The theory states that the reason for that this reciprocity occurs, is because of humans need for survival, and how keeping and maintaining those relationships are very important to that survival. However, if the airman reacts how his wife expects, responding opposite to her wants and needs, she will try to counteract that, to deescalate the situation. The use of compensation is the most effective for survival in this situation. When situations occur like this often, divergence begins to occur, where the wife may assume a role of "fire extinguisher" as she may have to continually put out fires in the relationship. Once again, all of this occurs in accordance with her need to survive (Guerrero & Floyd, 2006).

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