RELATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

What is a Relationship• Interaction between two people over time

• Verbal and nonverbal exchanges

Aspects of Interaction

• CONTENT– what people say and do; breadth and depth

• PATTERN– Structure of how people say and do; sequences

• CONTEXT– Interaction takes place within a context that affects

meaning

• CONTINUITY– Past, present, future

Properties of Relationship Development

• Partners interact more often, for longer periods of time, and in a widening array of settings

• Partners attempt to restore proximity when separated, and feel comfortable when proximity is regained

• Partners “open up” to each other, in the sense that they disclose secrets and share physical intimacies

• Partners become less inhibited, more willing to share positive & negative feelings, & to praise and criticize each other.

• Partners develop their own communication system and become ever more efficient in using it

• Partners increase their ability to map and anticipate each others’ views of social reality

• They begin to synchronize their goals & behavior & develop stable interpersonal patterns

• They increase in the relationship, thus their investment enhancing it’s importance in their life space

• they begin increasingly to feel that their separate interests are inextricably tied to the well-being of their relationship

• Partner’s increase their liking, trust & love for each other

• Partner’s see the relationship as irreplaceable, or at least as unique

• Partner’s more and more relate to others as a couple rather than as individuals