Dyads

Strictly speaking, a dyad is any pair of individuals. However, among psychologists, the term dyad is usually restricted to pairs of individuals who are expected to exhibit interdependence or relatedness in their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. When social psychologists study dyads, they typically are studying interactions between two people who have or might anticipate having an ongoing relationship. That is, their research designs typically involve pairs of individuals who influence one another in some manner and often in many ways.

Technically, dyads are one type of group. At times, the study of dyads deals with the same issues as the study of groups of other sizes might deal with. For instance, an organizational psychologist interested in sharing of information between work colleagues might examine the same ...