Negative Transformational Process: The Maladaptive Nature of Accommodation in Relationships

Abstract

The theoretical focus is to understand the role of emotional regulation in the dyadic interactions and to account for well-being in marital relationships. Emotions are concealed or expressed at the level of human processing. Therefore, masking emotional expression becomes a threat to well-being. The model brings a distinction between the adaptive and maladaptive transformation of motivation by enabling the bridge between interdependence theory and emotion regulation theory. Transformation of motivation is defined as the shift in the person understanding and interpretation of the situation as defined by the interdependence theory. The activation between emotional stimuli and regulatory mechanism would signify that transformation occurs during the interpretive stage of the situation. It is therefore aiding in providing a concise description of effective use of emotional coping strategy in marital interaction by questioning long-term outcomes in relationships. The current paper reviews the emotional interdependence found in couple’s interactions and the process of shift aiding in accommodating difficult emotions. The process model is based upon the theoretical underpinnings in interdependence theory and emotional regulation theory wherein the process of taking a decision involves reappraisal of the weighted advantage. This weighted advantage if seen as a profit, the person mostly likely to take the adaptive route. If there are alternatives that are perceived opposed to the weighted advantage, the emotional regulation strategies hence become maladaptive. This supports the given model indicating that well-being will be decreased if the transformational process involves suppressive nature which in turn leading to maladaptive coping patterns among the partners.