Lecture 4. Interpersonal Communication.

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 493.

Outline.

1. The role of relationships in our lives.
2. Stages of relationships.

1. Communication is one variable common to all relationships. As a result of communication, we establish and nurture or withdraw from and end our relationships.

Relationships play many roles in our lives. They fulfill our needs for inclusion, control, and affection. We each need to feel that others take an interest in. us, that they view us as capable of exerting control over our lives, and that we are lovable. It is through conversation that we establish, maintain, and end our relationships.

Every relationship we share is unique and varies in breadth (how many topics we discuss with the other person) and depth (how much we are willing to reveal to the other person about our feelings). Most relationships develop according to a social-penetration model, beginning with narrow breadth and shallow depth; over time, some relationships increase in breadth and depth, becoming wider, more intimate, or both.

2. Researchers have identified a number of stages our relationships may pass through: initiating, experimenting, intensifying, integrating, bonding, differ­entiating, circumscribing, stagnating, avoiding, and terminating. Note that a relationship may stabilize at any stage. When the participants disagree about the point of stabilization, problems are likely to arise.