Cognition and communication in the relationship process

For the past six years, I have been researching how people communicatively accomplish romantic relationship development, maintenance and repair, and disengagement (Baxter 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, in press; Baxter and Bullis, in press; Baxter and Philpott 1980, 1982; Baxter and Wilmot 1983, 1984, 1985; Bullis and Baxter 1986; Dindia and Baxter 1986; Wilmot and Baxter 1983, 1984; Wilmot, Carbaugh, and Baxter 1985). To a large extent, personal relationships research has mirrored other social scientific work in viewing communication as a mere conduit of more causally forceful psychological and sociological factors (Pearce and Cronen 1980). By contrast, a view of relationships as communicative accomplishments…