Abstract
Dominance is considered as one of the most important aspects of relationship interaction, but little is known about the behavior that romantic partners use to dominate. We explored verbal reflections of 60 long-term couples about their domineering behavior when interacting with the partner in a laboratory session.
We categorized participants' statements into nineteen strategies. We found typical strategies based on verbal content and activity as Arguments or Creative Ideas, as well as prototypical asocial strategies as Coercion and Aggression.
There were, however, also strong newly identified passive strategies such as "Walkout", or "Stifling silence". All 16 strategies illustrate the so far unrecognized variability of domineering behavior.