Abstract
Nonverbal synchrony between individuals has a robust relation to the positive aspects of relationships. In psychotherapy, where talking is the cure, nonverbal synchrony has been related to a positive outcome of therapy and to a stronger therapeutic alliance between therapist and client in dyadic settings. Only a few studies have focused on nonverbal synchrony in multi-actor therapy conversations. Here, we studied the synchrony of head and body movements in couple therapy, with four participants present (spouses and two therapists). We analyzed more than 2000min of couple therapy videos from 11 couple therapy cases using Motion Energy Analysis and a Surrogate Synchrony (SUSY), a procedure used earlier in dyadic psychotherapy settings. SUSY was calculated for all six dyads per session, leading to synchrony computations for 66 different dyads. Significant synchrony occurred in all 29 analyzed sessions and between the majority of dyads. Complex models were used to determine the relations between nonverbal synchrony and the clients’ well-being and all participants’ evaluations of the therapeutic alliance. The clients’ well-being was related to body synchronies in the sessions. Differences were found between the clients’ and therapists’ alliance evaluations: the clients’ alliance evaluations were related to synchrony between both dyads of opposite gender, whereas the therapists’ alliance evaluations were related to synchrony between dyads of the same gender, but opposite to themselves. With four participants present, our study introduces a new aspect of nonverbal synchrony, since as a dyad synchronizes, the other two participants are observing it. Nonverbal synchrony seems to be as important in couple therapy as in individual psychotherapy, but the presence of multiple participants makes the patterns more complex.
Highlights
Synchrony is an elementary part of human interaction
We investigated the validity of the data, that is, whether wearing measurement equipment affected individual movement patterns or nonverbal synchrony patterns
We explored whether nonverbal synchrony occurred in couple therapy, and if it was related to the well-being of the clients, and to the therapeutic alliance and therapy outcome
Summary
Synchrony is an elementary part of human interaction. Synchrony occurs automatically during conversations as we regulate turn-taking or adjust our nonverbal behaviors, including movement, pitch, and facial expressions, to each other. Synchrony can occur in many domains, from physiological arousal to body movements. The tendency to synchronize in human interactions has been studied quite extensively using different research methods, including conceptualizations and computations (Delacherche et al, 2012; for a review, see Vicaria and Dickens, 2016). Even though research methods and computations vary, nonverbal synchrony has generally been related to positive aspects of the interpersonal relationship. Nonverbal synchrony generates feelings of closeness, similarity, and entitativity and a feeling that the interaction is proceeding smoothly (Vicaria and Dickens, 2016). Nonverbal synchrony leads to affiliation (Hove and Risen, 2009), increases positive affect (Tschacher et al, 2014; Mogan et al, 2017; Galbusera et al, 2019), and even affects self-esteem (Lumsden et al, 2014)
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