Interaction Adaptation Theory: Manage the Interaction, Not Just the Individual

Communication · Executive Insight Brief · 089

Observe what each person is adapting to

Reciprocity and compensation are responses within a moving dyadic system, not reliable evidence of a fixed communication style

Premise

Leaders often evaluate communication one person at a time: one colleague is too forceful, another too quiet, a customer defensive, an interviewer cold. Yet pace, volume, gaze, distance, disclosure, warmth, silence, and turn-taking change in response to another person’s behavior. What looks like an individual trait may be an adaptation generated by the interaction.

Interaction Adaptation Theory gives executives a way to diagnose that movement. Developed by Judee K. Burgoon, Lesa A. Stern, and Leesa Dillman, it explains why people sometimes reciprocate a partner’s behavior, sometimes compensate in the opposite direction, and sometimes adjust in other ways. The practical unit of analysis is the dyad and its sequence, not an isolated performance.

What the model is: Interaction Adaptation Theory in Knowledge →