A Systems Approach to Marital Process

An event of marital communication and negotiation is conceived as a cybernetic system composed of many parts and stages, following the framework of general systems theory. Couple communication is presented as a feedback loop based on the congruent transmission and effective reception of personal and interpersonal information. Couple negotiation is viewed as a system in development. Connections between component subsystems are mapped along with the pathways of progression from one stage to the next. No subsystem is taken as final but is constantly reworked in relation to the system as a whole. Implications for counseling, education, and research are suggested.