The serpentine model works backwards from what we create, asking how we got there and specifically what patterns exist that got us there. So using the language of CMM, we are persons in conversation, which just means that we are all always interacting with or are in conversation with others, whether that is a literal verbal conversation or even the broader idea that we live our lives, quote unquote, in conversation with others, so to speak. that there is always this back and forth, that nothing is isolated.
So the Serpentine model looks at the process that occurs between persons in conversation. And this process is always happening. Barnett wrote that every aspect of our social worlds is made by the collaborative action of multiple people. This model is called the Serpentine model because of the back and forth that occurs during a conversation between two people. how it resembles a snake slithering back and forth, starting at one person, then going across to the other and back and back and back.
And that repetition is what's key because it's what makes known the patterns that are taking place in those interactions. So if you were just looking at one individual exchange, then you won't be able to recognize it as part of a broader pattern. This model really highlights how each utterance is a reaction to a previous utterance. A lot of people get stuck. In what CMM calls unwanted repetitive patterns, or URPs, subconsciously they tell themselves that they have to respond a certain way.
The unwanted repetitive patterns generally lead to a place that neither person wanted the conversation to go. A lot of times there's an escalation that occurs, and if the persons in conversation aren't thinking critically about how they respond, and why the other person might be responding how they are, then this escalation seems inevitable because they aren't even considering that they could have responded any differently. So there are two ways that we can actually put the serpentine model to work in our own lives.
One is to use it as a reflective tool after a conversation has happened. The second way to use this model is in the moment. The biggest piece is that knee-jerk reaction that occurs. The thought that you have to respond a certain way, that you must respond a certain way. And it's never true.
So using it in the moment, the minute a conversation starts, you know, you recognize that you are in a serpentine model. And you can, even in a quick little moment, hear what the other person has said. Think about how you want to respond and then respond, rather than skipping that middle part altogether. And this is what keeps you out of those unwanted, repetitive patterns. So if there's always going to be a pattern, that emerges in our interactions.
We have the power, we don't think we do sometimes, but we do have the power to control whether that is going to be a positive or a negative pattern that we create. And that's the serpentine model.