The Role of Interpersonal Style in Relational Regulation

Relational Regulation Theory (RRT) and Interpersonal Theory describe mechanisms linking social interactions to affect and perceptions of others. RRT describes ordinary, everyday social interactions involving interesting conversation or shared enjoyable activities as integral to affect regulation. Affect regulation elicits feelings of being supported by the interaction partner (i.e., perceived social support) with, with resulting downstream mental health benefits in both everyday life and when under stress. Interpersonal Theory describes social interactions as exchanges of warm (or cold) and dominant (or submissive) behaviors (i.e., interpersonal styles), with favorable affect elicited by interaction partners that engage in behaviors that fulfill interpersonal needs in each other. One elaboration of Interpersonal Theory hypothesizes that when under stress, interpersonal style will augment the effects of receiving support on the perceived supportiveness of the provider. I explored the extent to which interpersonal style incremented the prediction of contemporaneous affect and perceived social support engagement by enjoyed conversation and shared activities. Across three studies (n = 396; n = 288; n = 206), in vivo, in situ reported perception of an interaction partner as warm was linked to better affect and feeling supported. Perceived warmth also predicted better affect and being supported in times of stress; receiving social support was associated with contemporaneous negative affect but greater perceived support. Enjoyment of conversation and shared activity and warmth both predicted better affect and feelings of being supported independently; there were no interaction effects. Yet, the proportion of variance explained increased dramatically when both predictors were entered together, supporting the integration of RRT with Interpersonal Theory