Communication · Executive Insight Brief · 479
The loudest partner may not decide
Dyadic Power Theory separates resources, authority, perceived relative power, control attempts, counter-control, and achieved influence so loud behavior is not mistaken for the structure of power
Premise
Power can become visible in communication without being identical to dominant behavior. Dyadic Power Theory (DPT) connects resources, legitimate authority, perceived relative power, control attempts, counter-control, and outcomes inside a relationship. Its central discipline is to distinguish the power partners possess or perceive from the behaviors through which they try to exercise it.
A forceful speaker may make repeated control attempts because influence is uncertain, while a quieter partner may already hold decisive resources, authority, or alternatives. The same relationship can also distribute power differently across domains. Diagnosis therefore has to specify the dyad and decision at issue before treating interruption, insistence, withdrawal, or silence as evidence of who actually controls outcomes.
What the model is: Dyadic Power Theory in Knowledge →
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What these mean
Editorial orientation · Family
Model
In this series, Model names the editorial family primarily used to understand and explain communication: theories, frameworks, effects, traditions, principles and other conceptual resources. It is an umbrella for a route into the field, not a claim that every included object is a predictive model.
Editorial orientation · Category
Theories & Explanatory Models
Explains how or why a communication process works by relating mechanisms, conditions or variables. Its value is an account that can guide inquiry into what produces an outcome, rather than a name for the outcome alone.