A Boolean Analysis of Interpersonal Perception

Abstract

Laing, Phillipson, and Lee (1966) have developed an ingenious technique, the Interpersonal Perception Method (IPM), for the determination of the degree to which the members of a dyad agree on important issues, understand one another, feel understood, and realize the understanding of the other member. Unfortunately, a number of problems make it unlikely that the potential of the IPM will be realized: (a) it is nearly impossible to avoid getting tangled in complex semantics, (b) relationships among terms are obscure, (c) derivation of terms is completely intuitive and sometimes ambiguous, and (d) scoring procedures are tedious and difficult.

Boolean analysis of the IPM makes its truth-functional structure explicit. In so doing it removes the need for intuitive derivations of terms; it clarifies the structure of IPM relation ships; it substantially reduces scoring efforts; and it provides a logical and rigorous substructure for the IPM which allows it to be developed as a general method for the study of interpersonal phenomenology. The analysis also reveals that of the 30 original IPM determinations, 15 are either redundant or superfluous.

Boolean analysis makes the IPM readily adaptable to a wide variety of investigations. A general technique for the derivation of terms is demonstrated and a sample set of determinations for evaluation of marital therapy is derived.

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