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Walking through interaction. Comments on Harold H. Kelley's: ‘Expanding the analysis of social interactions by reference to the sequential‐temporal structures of situations’
Author(s) -
GRZELAK JANUSZ Ł.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-0992(199707)27:4<405::aid-ejsp858>3.0.co;2-j
Subject(s) - psychology , outcome (game theory) , social psychology , social relation , decision maker , social decision making , cognitive psychology , management science , mathematical economics , mathematics , economics
Kelley proposes to analyse social orientations in terms of decision making. Social orientations are defined by classes of decision rules which an individual adopts when entering and developing an interaction with another person. Contrary to the most traditional approach, outcome allocation decisions are only an element of a chain of decisions made by the individual. The new theory broadens our view of interactions, draws our attention to their complexity and their dynamics. On the other hand, Kelley's man behaves as if he or she processed information in a systematic way, perceived long‐term outcomes and as if he or she controlled the interaction to achieve desirable outcomes. The vision of man as an internally consistent decision‐maker is questionable. Many choices made in interaction with others are spontaneous and emotion driven rather than a result of deliberate information processing. Kelley's theory offers a highly sophisticated tool for a temporal analysis of social interactions even though it cannot be applied to the entire spectrum of interdependence situations. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.