Exploring the role of emotions and conversation content in interpersonal synchrony : A case study of a couple therapy session

Abstract

Objective This exploratory study investigated the association between interpersonal movement and physiological synchronies, emotional processing, and the conversational structure of a couple therapy session using a multimodal, mixed-method approach.

Method The video recordings of a couple therapy session, in which the participants’ electrodermal activity was recorded, were analyzed. The session was divided into topical episodes, a qualitative analysis was conducted on each topical episode’s emotional aspects, conversational structure and content. In addition, movement and physiological synchrony were calculated in each topical episode. Regression models were used to discover the associations between qualitative variables and synchronies.

Results Physiological synchrony was associated with the emotional aspects of the session and to episodes in which the spouses’ relationship was addressed, while movement synchrony was only related to emotional valence. No association between synchrony and conversational structure was found.

Conclusion The findings suggest that physiological and movement synchrony play distinct roles in psychotherapy. The exploratory study sheds light on the association between momentary synchrony, emotions, and conversational structure in a couple therapy session.