ABSTRACT
Kristina M. Scharp and Lindsey J. Thomas provide an overview of relational dialectics theory (RDT), paying particular attention to the shift from RDT’s earliest articulation to its now critically-inflected rearticulation and corresponding method, contrapuntal analysis. After describing the theory’s growth, the authors present RDT’s foundational premises and their importance to the congruous steps of contrapuntal analysis. The emphasis on contrapuntal analysis reflects RDT’s shift from product to process. The authors then provide an overview of interpersonal communication studies that employ RDT. The authors end by evaluating RDT and offer implications for future RDT-based research.
