Graduate student Nick Chen and Dr. Williamson have a new paper in press at Social and Personality Psychology Compass entitled “Current theories and epistemologies of couple communication center White American modes of interaction.” This article argues that observational methods that are commonly used to study couple communication are well-equipped to capture White American modes of communication and interaction which prioritize openly and directly confronting problems, but do not adequately capture the various ways that couples from other cultural backgrounds deal with relationship problems or communicate love and support. By upholding this rigid epistemological definition of “good science,” relationship scholars are limiting our ability to accurately understand relationship functioning among couples from cultural backgrounds that are not aligned with White American ideals, and perpetuating the White American mode of interaction as the “correct” way to behave in a relationship. The article then discusses adjustments that must be made to this methodology, as well as alternative methodological approaches for studying couple communication, that should be adopted in order to move toward an inclusive, global science of close relationships.
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