QUESTIONS TO SHARPEN YOUR FOCUS

1		Systems theorists compare the family system to a mobile. What part of the mobile represents metacommunication? If you were constructing a mobile to model your family, how would you depict symmetrical and complementary relationships?
2		For decades, the United States and the former Soviet Union were engaged in a nuclear arms race. How does Watzlawick's axiom about the punctuation of communication sequences explain the belligerence of both nations?
3		Can you make up something your instructor might say that would place you in a double bind? Under what conditions would this be merely laughable rather than frustrating?
4		Read one of the letters printed in the "Ann Landers" or "Dear Abby" column of your daily newspaper. How could you reframe the situation the writer describes?