ABSTRACT
The desirability of a status passage provides the motivational basis for actions that shape the passage. Its shaping results, in part, from the degree of desirability felt by agent and passage toward the specific dimensions of direction and timing as they unfold. When closure is completely desirable to both passage and agent, ceremonies that mark transitions and the end may occur, heralding the desirability of passage. The desirability of the passage to all parties steers the balance of power involved in the negotiation toward compromise to preserve the passage. The power that the weaker participant gains because of mutual desirability of the passage is, however, a "false" power. A major source of an undesirable passage for both agent and passage is that which turns undesirable because of a reversal or a critical incident that changes its direction. Recapitulations of undesirable passages are held to a minimum, because dwelling on them is experienced as undesirable.
