Accusation-response sequences in couples therapy from the perspectives of conversation analysis and argumentation analysis

Abstract Accusations are common social actions found in couples conflict episodes. Drawing from video-recorded couples therapy sessions, we examine a corpus of couples accusation-response sequences in order to answer the following questions: How are offences (e.g., accusations/blame/reproach) formulated in couples therapy talk, how does the accused spouse resist or deny the offensive action and how does the therapist intervene in the offence-response sequences? Two methods are used to investigate these interactional practices. Conversation analysis (CA) is used to identify the sequential organization of these offence-response sequences and, in particular, the defensive moves used by the male spouse to resist the offensive action. Argumentation analysis (AA) from the perspective of the Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA) is used to reconstruct and evaluate argumentative sequences of accusation and responses (e.g., counter-reproach, justification, and acceptance of responsibility) particularly focusing on argumentation schemes. By integrating these approaches, we were able to reveal a couple’s argumentative practices from both an interactional and content dimension.