ABSTRACT
The theoretical analysis of interpersonal relations developed by J. W. Thibaut and H. H. Kelley, like that of G. C. Homans, rests basically upon an exchange view of human interaction. When a person “offers” behavior falling within any of the quadrants of the interpersonal circle, he is, in effect, “inviting” the other person to adopt a complementary stance in respect to both of the principal dimensions of the circle. The person who produces an anticomplementary response does so at the expense of risking an embarrassing impasse and subsequent retaliation from the other, and in many instances he violates strong normative pressures concerning the proper management of one’s interpersonal affairs. Endogenous outcomes, on the other hand, depend upon the relationship, in the sense that the other person’s behavior at least partially determines the rewards and/or costs experienced in consequence of behaving in any particular way.
