Self-Delineation and Marital Interaction: The Rorschach Predicts Structural Analysis of Social Behavior

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between intrapsychic self-delineation and observed marital interaction. The subjects included 16 married couples in which one of the spouses was hospitalized on a psychiatric unit for suicidality. All participants completed the Rorschach Inkblot Test based on Burke, Friedman, and Gorlitz's Psychoanalytic Rorschach Profile (Burke et al., 1988; Gorlitz, Burke, & Friedman, 1984). Then each couple was audiotaped while discussing a problem in their marriage. Samples of couple interaction 6 min in length were coded using Benjamin's Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (Benjamin, 1974) model and methodology. Results suggested that greater intrapsychic self-delineation predicts two dimensions of interpersonal behavior: (a) decreased submission and sulky resentment, and (b) increased control, toward the partner. These findings are interpreted as consistent with the psychoanalytic constructs of separation anxiety and intimacy anxiety.