We'll Never Be That Kind of Couple

Case study number 19 is quite an interesting case. It starts off with two characters by the names of Emma and Jason. Emma and Jason had both just graduated college and decided to take the next step in their relationship and move into an apartment together. They had just gotten new jobs at the same time which proved to also add some stress to their already stressful life. What Emma and Jason did not know about their move was that their neighbor was a very abusive person towards his significant other and they would have to listen to most every fight that the neighbor would have. These next door fights began as soon as they arrived and the case almost seems like they heard them from the first day of arrival.
Both Emma and Jason were obviously upset about what was going on next door. They could not even get through a meal without hearing the neighbors fighting about something stupid. It troubled them so much that they even had a difficult time falling asleep at night and they often wondered if they should intervene in the situation because it progressively got worse. One time they heard large banging in the apartment next to them and then heard the girl crying. They had thought the man had hit the women and they became terrified of their next door neighbor.
Being that both of them were being forced to hear these fights they began to think of it as normal. Emma and Jason had their own scuffles but nothing that escalated to that point. At first they actually used their neighbors fighting to bring them closer to one another because they made a promise that their fights would never progress that far. Until one night when they both lost their temper greatly and Emma ended up throwing a vase at the floor and shattering it everywhere. They had begun their relationship with neutral symmetry which means they were both allowing one another to possess some of the power in the relationship. As they grew accustomed to their neighbors fighting all of the time they transitioned into a competitive symmetry which both of them would struggle for the highest power so their fights continued to escalate.
Many things could have been done to avoid this situation. First they could have confronted the management of the complex and voiced their opinion about the dangers that were unfolding next door. If the management would not have done anything they could have always reported domestic dispute to the local authorities. Emma and Jason were afraid of repercussion but it would be awfully difficult to pinpoint who called the cops on the fighting neighbors when it is in an apartment home and many people live in a confined space.
Jason and Emma are beginning to develop a state called the principle of negative reciprocity. This principle states that as one person gets more aggressive the other person is likely to follow. This state has a great deal to do with power. They both want the power and are fighting tooth and nail for it. If Emma and Jason do not step back and change their environment and the way they interact with one another they could very easily travel down this road even further and ultimately ruin their entire relationship.