Egocentrism-Altercentrism in the Husband-Wife Relationship.

A scoring system is developed which focuses on the continuum from egocentrism through cocentrism to altercentrism in husband-wife interaction. Three groups of couples (husband wins, wife wins, and both win) are identified on the basis of the outcomes of improvisations involving concealed differences. No significant differences appeared between the sexes on the relative amounts of concern shown for the other. It was found that if a person was predominately egocentric, he or she was most likely to win; if cocentric, most likely to be in a both-win situation; and if predominately altercentric, most likely to lose. The initial interaction tended to predict the final outcome of the conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]