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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