Telic Systems Research

This is the current version of the Model of Interpersonal Relationships that is being used in the CCHE Studies.

Purpose of the Model

The Model is designed to enable researchers to describe, map and track a Person's changing perception of his or her interpersonal relationships.

The Model is concise in its essential terms, but comprehensive in its scope;  it spans both synergistic (co-operative) and antagonistic (conflicted) relationships; and it encompasses degrees of relational synergy and antagonism ranging from the most transient and inconsequential, to the most salient and persistent.

The Model informs the design of our Interpersonal Relationships Questionnaire (IRQ).

Summary of the Model

The Model describes a Person's perception, or awareness, of his or her relationship with another in terms of the attributes of two Directional Components (‘Other to Self' and ‘Self to Other').

 The Model describes each of these two Directional Components (Other-to-Self and Self-to-Other) in terms of the following attributes:

• Assistive Polarity  (Assistive or Resistive);
• Level of Intentionality (Meta Telic, Telic or Hypo Telic); and
• Degree of Autonomy (Autonomous Agency or Proxy Agency).

All of the characteristics of the relationship as a whole can be derived from the attributes of the Directional Components;  so these Components, and their attributes, are the primary descriptors of the relationship between the two parties; all other descriptors (such as ‘Synergy' or ‘Antagonism', as applied to the relationship as a whole; or ‘Friend', ‘Ally' or ‘Enemy', as applied to the Self or the Other)  are secondary, in the sense that they are all derived from, and depend upon,  the primary descriptors.

The Two Directional Components: Other to Self and Self to Other

The Other to Self component represents the Person's awareness of the Other's attitudes, intentions and actions towards himself or herself.

The Self to Other component represents the Person's awareness of his or her attitudes, intentions and actions towards the Other.

Attributes of the Directional Components

Assistive Polarity

Assistive attitudes, intentions and actions are perceived as facilitating or supporting the recipient.

Resistive attitudes, intentions and actions are perceived as obstructing or undermining the recipient.

The Three Levels of Intentionality: Hypo Telic, Telic and Meta Telic

The Model distinguishes between actions whose assistive or resistive effects are perceived as deliberate and intentional, and those which are not.

Where it is accidental or unintentional, assistance or resistance is described as Hypo Telic; for example, when the Other unknowingly obstructs the Self's attainment of an aspiration, without recognising that the Self has that aspiration; or without being aware of the impacts of his or her actions upon the Self's attainment of that aspiration.

Where it is deliberate or intentional, the assistance or resistance is described as Telic or Meta Telic; for example, when the Other recognises that the Self has an aspiration, and deliberately obstructs the Self's attainment of it.

The Model also distinguishes between assistance or resistance which is limited to a specific range of intentions, purposes, goals, desires or aspirations, and assistance or resistance which is not limited in its scope.

Where the assistance or resistance is intentional and deliberate (that is, not Hypo Telic), but its scope is perceived as being clearly limited to a specific context, it is described as Telic; for example, when it is perceived that another's assistance is confined to the support of specific activities, goals or aspirations.

Where the scope of the assistance or resistance is intentional and deliberate but generalised, and not confined to a specific context, it is described as Meta Telic; for example, when it is perceived that the Other's resistance to one's activities is deliberate and general in scope, rather than confined to the obstruction of specific activities, or the undermining of specific goals or aspirations.

The Hypo Telic Level

Hypo Telic Assistance occurs when the actions of a person are perceived as unintentionally or accidentally facilitating another's attainment of his or her Aspirations, or the solution of his or her Problems.

Hypo Telic Resistance occurs when the actions of a person are perceived as unintentionally or accidentally obstructing another's attainment of his or her Aspirations, or the solution of his or her Problems.

The Telic Level

Telic Assistance occurs when the actions of a person are perceived as intentionally and deliberately facilitating another's attainment of a specific set of Aspirations (but not all of them), or the solution of a specific set of Problems (but not all of them).

Telic Resistance occurs when the actions of a person are perceived as intentionally and deliberately obstructing another's attainment of a specific set of Aspirations (but not all of them), or the solution of a specific set of Problems (but not all of them).

The Meta Telic Level

Meta Telic Assistance occurs when the actions of a Person are perceived as generally, intentionally and deliberately facilitating and supporting another Person's attainment of his or her Aspirations, or the solution of his or her Problems. The assistance is general, and pervades beyond the scope of a specific set of Aspirations and Problems. The Assistance operates regardless of the nature of the recipient's declared intentions, and is in that sense ‘unconditional'.

Meta Telic Resistance occurs when the actions of a Person are perceived as generally, intentionally and deliberately obstructing and undermining another Person's attainment of his or her Aspirations, or the solution of his or her Problems. The resistance is general, and pervades beyond the scope of a specific set of Aspirations and Problems. The Resistance operates regardless of the nature of the recipient's declared intentions, and is in that sense ‘unconditional'.

The Two Degrees of Autonomy: Autonomous Agency and Proxy Agency

The two degrees of Autonomy (Autonomous Agency and Proxy Agency) come into play mainly at the Telic Level.

They enable a distinction to be made between instances of Assistance or Resistance which are perceived to arise from the personal choices and preferences of Self or Other, and those which arise because either or both are acting as proxy agents for Third Parties (that is, either following the instructions of another person or group, or complying with the rules and procedures of an Institution). In the ensuing discussion, we shall call this Third Party the ‘Instructor'; and we shall call the Person who is the object of the Proxy Agent's actions the ‘Target'.

At the Telic Level, a Proxy Agent is perceived as carrying out an instruction to assist or resist the Target, but only within certain contexts, which are perceived as corresponding to the Instructor's purposes.

At the Meta Telic Level, a Proxy Agent is perceived as carrying out an instruction to assist or resist the Target regardless of context. The Instructor's purpose is to assist or resist the Target unconditionally, via the actions of the Proxy Agent.

The two degrees of Autonomy are not directly relevant at the Hypo Telic level,  because the effects of Other upon Self (or vice versa) at this level are perceived as being accidental and unintentional, so the Proxy Agent is not being instructed to assist or resist the Target. However, it is entirely possible that an Agent offering Hypo Telic assistance or resistance is perceived as having been deliberately made accessible to, or placed in the path of, the Target by a Third Party. In this case, the assisting or resisting Agent is perceived as a mere obstacle or instrument to the Target, rather than as a Proxy Agent.

Perceived State of the Relationship as a Whole by the Self:

The perceived state of an interpersonal relationship as a whole thus depends upon the Self's perception of the states of the two Directional Components:

Note 1: AA = Autonomous Agent; PA = Proxy Agent

Note 2: ‘Neutrality' is indicated by the absence of any entries in either the ‘Other to Self' or the ‘Self to Other' columns, or both of them.

In this Model, there are very many possible ‘states' for a relationship, because of:

• Assistive/Resistive Incongruity: Within a particular Directional Component (Self to Other, or Other to Self), there may be entries in both the Assistive and Resistive columns, at the same Level (specifically, the Telic Level) or at different Levels (in the latter case, the highest level would tend to dominate the perceived state of the relationship as ‘assistive' or ‘resistive'). For example, the Other to Self component might be perceived as both assistive at the Telic level (that is, the Other intends to support certain Aspirations/Goals of the Self) and, at the same time, resistive at the Hypo Telic level (the Other unintentionally obstructs certain Aspirations/Goals of the Self, through incompetence etc).
• Reciprocal Asymmetry: The entries for the two Directional Components may be mismatched in terms of their Poles (assistive/resistive) or in terms of their Levels (Hypo Telic, Telic or Meta Telic). For example, the Self to Other component might be perceived as assistive at the Meta Telic level (the Self provides general/unconditional support for the Other) while the Other to Self component may be perceived as Assistive only at the Telic level (the Other provides support for the Self only within the scope of particular contexts).
• Discrepancies between Degrees of Autonomy at the Telic  Level: the entries for Self and Other may be perceived as being matched in terms of Pole and Level, but the Degrees of Autonomy exercised by Self and Other may be perceived as being mismatched. One party is perceived as acting autonomously for himself/herself, whereas the other party is perceived as acting as a proxy agent for a Third Party.

Derived Attributes of the Relationship as a Whole

An interpersonal relationship might be described as Synergistic when both of the Directional Components (Other to Self and Self to Other) are perceived as Assistive.

An interpersonal relationship might be described as Antagonistic when either of the Directional Components (Other to Self or Self to Other) is perceived as Resistive.

Synergy and Antagonism are thus derivative attributes of the combined states of the Directional Components.

Derived Descriptions of the Self and the Other

The Other may be described as a ‘Friend', ‘Ally', ‘Opponent', ‘Enemy' (etc.) of the Self, depending upon the overall state of the relationship, and of its Directional Components.

For example:

• an ‘Enemy' could be defined as someone who is resistive at the Meta Telic level;
• an ‘Ally' could be defined as someone who is assistive at the Telic level;
• an ‘Opponent' could be defined as someone who is resistive at the Telic level.

Like the attributes and descriptions of the relationship as a whole, these descriptions are derivative of the combined states of the Directional Components.

Some Research Questions Generated by the Model:

• To what extent do the states of the two Directional Components of a relationship tend to be symmetrical?
• To what extent do the changes in the two Directional Components tend to be synchronised (even when they are not symmetrical)?
• Under what circumstances do transitions between the three Levels occur, and what experiences tend to trigger these transitions?
• To what extent are transitions to and from the Telic Level conditioned by perceptions of the degree of Autonomy exercised by Self and Other?
• To what extent do individuals have a commitment to certain states (for example, maintaining a belief that all of the resistance that they encounter from Others is Hypo Telic (‘they didn't mean to make life difficult for me'); or, conversely, that all of the resistance that they encounter is Meta Telic (‘they've all got it in for me').