ABSTRACT
One of the perplexing aspects of the study of human behavior is the tendency for the most common and frequently occurring behaviors to be the most resistant to scientific explanation and investigation. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the study of family problem solving. Gerald Patterson notes that, "Problem solving [in families] becomes most evident when it is absent. It is only when the debris of unsolved problems is everywhere that this omitted mechanism comes into focus" (Patterson, 1982, p. 230).
