The paradox of disengagement: Bodily displays of inattention in couple therapy
Using concepts developed by Goffman and the theory of inter-corporeality, this paper describes non-speaking spouses' responses to complaints made about them by the other spouse in the context of couple therapy first consultations. While the turn-taking system of couple therapy effectively precl...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Communication |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2023.1066475/full |
| _version_ | 1797905035903893504 |
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| author | Anssi Peräkylä Anssi Peräkylä Bartłomiej Taurogiński Karolina Dejko-Wańczyk Barbara Józefik Mariusz Furgał Feliks Matusiak Bernadetta Janusz |
| author_facet | Anssi Peräkylä Anssi Peräkylä Bartłomiej Taurogiński Karolina Dejko-Wańczyk Barbara Józefik Mariusz Furgał Feliks Matusiak Bernadetta Janusz |
| author_sort | Anssi Peräkylä |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Using concepts developed by Goffman and the theory of inter-corporeality, this paper describes non-speaking spouses' responses to complaints made about them by the other spouse in the context of couple therapy first consultations. While the turn-taking system of couple therapy effectively precludes the possibility of a direct verbal response, non-speaking spouses often display bodily their disengagement from their spouse's talk. Using multimodal conversation analysis as the method, we show the repertoire of such disengagement behaviors and trace the moment-by-moment contexts in which they arise. While disengagement behaviors embody their producer's inattention to their spouse's talk, at the same time, they are, paradoxically, interactional moves produced in the presence of others, conveying their producer's negative stance to the ongoing talk. We argue that the timing of these disengagement practices involves anticipation of the direction of talk: non-speaking spouses display disengagement in moments when the speaking spouse's talk takes a direction toward an intensification of complaints about them. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T09:58:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3bb43c14a27f4b2e95da25b1546497db |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2297-900X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T09:58:41Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Communication |
| spelling | doaj.art-3bb43c14a27f4b2e95da25b1546497db2023-02-16T11:31:59ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Communication2297-900X2023-02-01810.3389/fcomm.2023.10664751066475The paradox of disengagement: Bodily displays of inattention in couple therapyAnssi Peräkylä0Anssi Peräkylä1Bartłomiej Taurogiński2Karolina Dejko-Wańczyk3Barbara Józefik4Mariusz Furgał5Feliks Matusiak6Bernadetta Janusz7Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, FinlandFreiburg Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, GermanyLaboratory of Systemic Psychology and Psychotherapy, Family Therapy Unit, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Cracow, PolandFamily Therapy and Psychosomatic Department, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Cracow, PolandLaboratory of Systemic Psychology and Psychotherapy, Family Therapy Unit, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Cracow, PolandFamily Therapy and Psychosomatic Department, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Cracow, PolandLaboratory of Systemic Psychology and Psychotherapy, Family Therapy Unit, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Cracow, PolandFamily Therapy and Psychosomatic Department, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Cracow, PolandUsing concepts developed by Goffman and the theory of inter-corporeality, this paper describes non-speaking spouses' responses to complaints made about them by the other spouse in the context of couple therapy first consultations. While the turn-taking system of couple therapy effectively precludes the possibility of a direct verbal response, non-speaking spouses often display bodily their disengagement from their spouse's talk. Using multimodal conversation analysis as the method, we show the repertoire of such disengagement behaviors and trace the moment-by-moment contexts in which they arise. While disengagement behaviors embody their producer's inattention to their spouse's talk, at the same time, they are, paradoxically, interactional moves produced in the presence of others, conveying their producer's negative stance to the ongoing talk. We argue that the timing of these disengagement practices involves anticipation of the direction of talk: non-speaking spouses display disengagement in moments when the speaking spouse's talk takes a direction toward an intensification of complaints about them.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2023.1066475/fullcouple therapydisengagementcomplaininginter-corporealityconversation analysisGoffman |
| spellingShingle | Anssi Peräkylä Anssi Peräkylä Bartłomiej Taurogiński Karolina Dejko-Wańczyk Barbara Józefik Mariusz Furgał Feliks Matusiak Bernadetta Janusz The paradox of disengagement: Bodily displays of inattention in couple therapy Frontiers in Communication couple therapy disengagement complaining inter-corporeality conversation analysis Goffman |
| title | The paradox of disengagement: Bodily displays of inattention in couple therapy |
| title_full | The paradox of disengagement: Bodily displays of inattention in couple therapy |
| title_fullStr | The paradox of disengagement: Bodily displays of inattention in couple therapy |
| title_full_unstemmed | The paradox of disengagement: Bodily displays of inattention in couple therapy |
| title_short | The paradox of disengagement: Bodily displays of inattention in couple therapy |
| title_sort | paradox of disengagement bodily displays of inattention in couple therapy |
| topic | couple therapy disengagement complaining inter-corporeality conversation analysis Goffman |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2023.1066475/full |
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