Interpersonal Tension

Abstract

This article offers a theoretical explanation, in terms of a two-factor approach to a POX Situation, in an attempt to fill the void that exists in the face of the Heider-Newcomb controversy about POX balance. Both Heider's mathematicalformulafor balance criterion and Newcomb's three-category propositions regarding POX triads have been found untenable by the reported experimental research. Thisparadox is resolved by the two-factor approach, validity and parsimony of which is demonstrated by applying it to some of the POX data reported in earlier studies (see, for example, Jordan [1953], Rodrigues [1965], Aderman [1969], Gutman and Knox [1972], Insko et al. [19741).