ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on nonvoluntary relationships which are those in which the person is forced to stay even though he would prefer not to. It discusses the effects of being subjected to a nonvoluntary relationship on the person's ability to adapt to new situations. Not only is the sensory input often limited in nonvoluntary relationships but the kinds of behavior the person may perform may be severely curtailed. An aspect of the "brainwashing" technique of the Chinese Communists, as described by R. J. Lifton, appears to exploit the effects on frustration of intermittent enforcement of the nonvoluntary relationship. An important aspect of many nonvoluntary relationships is that the social environment exercises massive fate control over the individual. Relationships are said to be nonvoluntary when an individual is constrained to a relationship in which his outcomes are relatively poor and/or is excluded from alternative relationships in which his outcomes are relatively good.
