Modeling the temporal coordination of behavior and internal states

One of the key phenomena that distinguish couples and social groups from mere collections of individuals is the coordination of individual thoughts, feelings, and actions that occurs in social interaction. The importance of coordination for social relations is reflected in common wisdom, where individuals who are connected by a satisfying social relationship are often termed to "be on the same wavelength" or to "resonate with one another," whereas those in a problematic relationship are said to be "out of synch with each other." Coordination may take many different forms and involve different specific mechanisms. In organizations, for example, the coordination of individual actions is of the primary concern, since the productivity of the group depends to a high degree on the quality of coordination of individual actions. In close relationships, on the other hand, coordination of feelings and thoughts may be more important since it directly affects the degree of satisfaction with the relationship. The lack of synchrony and mutual understanding is a source of dissatisfaction in marriages and other close relationships. Despite the wide variety of phenomena associated with coordination, there is reason to believe that many aspects of coordination are invariant across phenomena.