NEWCOMB’S SYMMETRY THEORY
NEWCOMB’S SYMMETRY THEORY Social psychologist Theodore M. Newcomb took Heider's idea of balance out of the head of one person and applied it to communication between people. He uses the term symme¬try to distinguish it from balance theory and contends that we attempt to influence one another to bring about symmetry (or balance or equilibrium). Newcomb postulates that attempts to influence another person are a function of the attraction one person has for another. In this respect Newcomb's theory is more of a theory of interpersonal attraction than one of attitude change. If we fail to achieve symme¬try through communication with another person about an object important to both of us, we may then change our attitude toward either the other person or the object in question in order to establish symmetry. Because Newcomb's model deals with two people and the communication between them, he labels them A and B (rather than Heider's P and O) and retains X to represent the o...