CMS 357 1st Edition Lecture 2Family Communication Notes II. Characteristics of Family Systems - definition of system: a set of components that interlate to one another to form a whole - systems theory looks at individuals in the context of the system- to fully understand the individual you must look at the system A. Interdependence- the individuals are relying on eachother, effect eachother- each family members affects each family member in some way (family members are interdependent) some therapistmay only loo at a child if she can also observe the family- needs to see the "whole family" to gain a better picture of the picture - when a child's grade drop there may be a divorce, chronic issue (get attention from their parents) depends on the degree B. Wholeness- the idea that the whole family is greater than the sum of its parts- when family members gather they create a whole- the interactions or systems are different depending on who is involvedExample: husbands family with six kids- when they all get together it is impossible for them to have conversations without anyone joking, they dont have serious conversations (the whole is different than the part of their systems) C. Patterns or self-regulation- idea that the system develops communication patterns that make things predictable- maintence feedback- what happens to maintain the patterns to keep them going in the family- change feedback- when patterns change, family members decide whether or not it is good-example of maintence feedback: the organizing person is the pattern, every year grandma organizes the family reunion- how does the family try to maintain the system, the siblings will freak out- maintaince feedback- maybe they will change the date so that the pattern of getting together remains- changing feedback may be to establish a new pattern, maybe a reunion will change to every other year - example: pattern as a child you have to listen to your parents on curfew- maintence feedback: your parents want to maintain the curfew, "we have always done this and will keep this", "live under my room, follow my rules!" "nothing good happens after 1am" - change feedback: extending the curfew, claim you are an adult, try to get one parent onyour side to make it 2 against 1 ● generally, change takes more work- when someone really tries to change the maintence feedback can be hard to hold onto● systems self regulate These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.D. Interactive complexity/ punctuation - if interactions were simple we would be able to pick out the cause of the problem, in reality: interactions are complex and we can come up with different causes dependeing on where we punctuate- they have marital conflicts because Susie is struggling with school or is Susie having a hard timebecause her parents are fighting so much- the idea of cause and effect are not useful because there is never really 1 single cause and 1 single effect - you move home for the summer and say your mom is nagging you too much, but the mom saysif her son made his bed, the mom wouldnt have to nag (it is both mom and sons fault) maybe the son wants more respect from his mom, in a system this could all go on at the same time- demand/withdrawl pattern- one person demands and wants to move forward to confront the problem and the other person avoids and withdraws (withdrawer will say the demander is constantly annoying and this makes me HAVE to withdraw, demander may feel like withdrawer is ignoring) identifying the root causes is a good starting pointE. Openess - the system maintains an interchange of elements outside the system or with a larger environment- the system is open to varying degrees with the environment- some family systems are more open than other families - external boundaries can be more or less flexible- a family with really flexible external boundaries will be more willing to interact with the environment - system religions have much less openess- Amish people- the exchange of information (some families are much more secret than other families; varies with topic) mental health issues, special needs, drugs, money, physical health issues- how they deal with openess also varies F. Complex relationships - systems within the systems, little systems within the systems "coalition of siblings" "coalition of parents"- siblings break up into colaitions, inlaws, step families - if coalition of parent/child is stronger than parents own coalition- triangleG. Equifinality- systems are characterized by if you can accomplish the same outcomes with different means - ability to get same goal with different methods - family systems can accomplsih like affection in many different ways- quality time in different ways, accomplish same levels of love and support in different ways I. Transmissions of Family Communication Patterns A. established within the nuclear family- nuclear family evolves, sometimes nuclear family will look at their parents and decide to be different within their family... planning, how you deal with conflictB. establish via multigenerational transmission- one generation passes them to the n ] xt generation c. ethnic heritage- gender