ABSTRACT
In the main, the last three chapters have been concerned with behavioral processes in general, and not with the specifics of interpersonal behavior. We have come now to a point in our discussion where it would be increasingly difficult to proceed at this level of abstraction. We need now to develop a language for the description of actual behavior in interpersonal situations so that we can focus down upon the concrete events of interpersonal transactions. We have seen something of how interpersonal behavior can be acquired and modified; the task now is to decide what behaviors should occupy our attention. The domain of interpersonal behavior is an exceedingly vast one whose natural ordering or principles of organization—if it has any—are not immediately apparent. As a matter of fact this domain does appear to have some order, and we are going to have to tease it out from the not-inconsiderable research literature at our disposal. How shall we proceed?
