The Interactional View
1. Systems theorists compare the family system to a mobile. What part of the
mobile represents metacommunication? If you were constructing a mobile to model
your family, how would you depict symmetrical and complementary relationships?
2. For decades, the United States and the former Soviet Union were engaged
in a nuclear arms race. How does Watzlawick’s axiom about the punctuation of
communication sequences explain the belligerence of both nations?
3. Can you make up something your instructor might say that would place you
in a double bind? Under what conditions would this be merely laughable rather
than frustrating?
4. Read one of the letters printed in the “Ask Amy” or “Dear Abby” column
of your daily newspaper. How could you reframe the situation the writer
describes?
