Abstract : The marital interaction coding system (MICS) has been developed and used to objectively record verbal and nonverbal behaviors that occur as marriage partners attempt to negotiate, in a laboratory setting, resolutions of their marital problems. Primary emphasis is placed on the accurate coding of every behavior emitted that can be classified, with these responses being recorded sequentially in 30-second blocks. The basic unit is defined as a verbal or nonverbal response which is homogeneous in content, without regard for its duration or its arbitrary syntactical properties, such as division into words and sentences. Homogeneity of content is judged with reference to the 28 categories which have been created.