Response redundancy index of relational congruence based on information theory

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Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 theoretical), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description

A quantitative index operationalizing relational congruence as patterning in verbal interaction, drawing on Shannon and Weaver's mathematical theory of communication. Entropy (H), maximum entropy (Hmax), and relative entropy (RE = H/Hmax) are computed over joint therapist-client response pairs, and redundancy (R = 1 - RE) serves as the primary index: "the last index of response redundancy served as the primary index response patterning/structure and so of relational congruence/incongruence." In the study it was computed per session for three VRM role dimensions.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

• Transcribed verbal utterances coded with a verbal response taxonomy (Stiles' VRM) to yield response transition probabilities

Constraints

• The authors state the measure is inherently a function of the response categories studied, and its lack of relation with the WAI suggests redundancy may be a poor measure of relationship congruence

Target Learners

• adult psychotherapy clients in time-limited therapy

Target Learning Goals

• measuring relational congruence and relational change in dyadic interaction

Affordances

• Interactional Theory Relational Congruence

Claims

• Congruence of communication varies with situational importance and relationship closeness [+W]

Related Elements

Examples

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Key Sources

• Wettersten, Kara B.; Lichtenberg, James W. (1995). Relationship Formation and Change in Psychotherapy: An Analysis of Cases. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED386668

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	element
id	response-redundancy-congruence-index
title	Response redundancy index of relational congruence based on information theory
description	A quantitative index operationalizing relational congruence as patterning in verbal interaction, drawing on Shannon and Weaver's mathematical theory of communication.
status	review
canonical	True
generated	by claude/unspecified on 2026-09-25
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources	1 — wettersten-1995

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