Multiple Involvements Within Group Interaction: A Video-Based Study of Sex Offender Therapy

Keywords

group therapy, sex offenders, multimodal interaction

Abstract

This is a study of multiple involvements during group therapy for sex offenders. We examined excerpts from 32 hr of videotaped data to show how participants' vocal and visible behaviors may be interactively organized to advance or resist therapy. First, we show how a therapist's suspension and resumption of paperwork is an interactional resource when she corrects an offender's resistance to feedback. Second, we examine how an offender's gaze, head, and body orientation may display ambivalent participation, enabling him to be simultaneously compliant with and resistant to therapy. Analyses are related to previous research on the orchestration of vocal and visible activity and to conversation-analytic studies on the resolution of overlapping talk. We discuss our findings in terms of the institutional demands in sex offender group therapy and consider how the ambiguity inherent in the interpretation of multiple involvements is a matter of concern for participants and analysts alike.

Original Publication Citation

MacMartin, C., and LeBaron, C. (2006). Multiple involvements within group interaction: A video-based study of sex-offender therapy. Research on language and social interaction, 39, 1, pp. 41–80.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2006

Publisher

Research on Language and Social Interaction

Language

English

College

Marriott School of Business

Department

Marketing

University Standing at Time of Publication

Full Professor

Link to Full Text

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