Conflict Can Be Constructive: Reflections on the Dialectics of Relationship Science

The current set of comments is remarkably robust and forthright. We found them refreshing and stimulating and strongly recommend each of them to all the readers of the original paper. The authors were well chosen by the editor to reflect the range and the subtlety of current theorizing in the relationship area, and the disagreements of the commentators with us and with each other highlight the vitality of the debate over our current understanding of the proper place of positive processes in relationships. Obviously we cannot respond on a point-by-point basis to each of the commentators—and in many cases this would be unnecessary because we would simply be repeating what another commentator has already said. The commentators do an excellent job of presenting the subtleties of multiple dialectics and carrying on the debate with each other as well as with us. So, rather than issue a rejoinder, we use our response to affirm each of the commentaries and to highlight what we found most instructive in each. It will likely be obvious that our position is considerably further away from some of the commentators than others, but we believe that it is out of the creative tension between differing perspectives that conceptual progress ismost likely to emerge. Indeed, one of the great values of introducin