Chapter 7 Communication in Relationships

Protective Family

A family that is low in conversation orientation and high in conformity, expects children to be obedient to parents, and does not value open communication.

Passionate Love

An emotionally charges engagement between two people that can be both exhilarating and painful.

Dating Couples

Couples in the courtship period of a relationship, which may range from a first date through several years.

Patterned Family Interactions

Frequent family rituals that do not have the degree of formality of traditions or celebrations.

Cross Gender Friendships

Friendships between a male and a female

Personal Relationships

Intimate, close, and interdependent relationships that meet emotional, relational, and instrumental needs.

Matching Hypothesis

States that people with similar levels of attractiveness will pair together.

Pluralistic Family

A Family that is high in conversation orientation and low in conformity, encourages open discussion for all family members, and in which parents do not strive to control their children's or each other's behaviors or decisions.

High Conformity Orientation

A climate of uniformity where guidelines are decided by a parent or parents.

Low Conformity Orientation

A climate that encourages diversity of beliefs, attitudes, values, and behaviors and assertion of individuality.

Consensual Family

A family that is high in both conversation and conformity orientations, encourages open communication, but also maintains a hierarchy that puts parents above children.

Laissez-faire Family

A family that is low in conversation and conformity orientations, has infrequent and/or short interactions, and doesn't discuss many topics.

Intergenerational Communication

Communication between people of different age groups.

Sexual Communication

Communication dealing with the initiation or refusal of sexual activity or with sexual likes and dislikes.

Sexual Conflict

Conflict that can result when couples disagree over frequency or type of sexual activities.

Partnered Couples

Couples who live together and take additional steps to verbally, ceremonially, or legally claim their intentions to be together in a long-term relationship.

Cohabiting Couples

Couples who live together.

Family Celebrations

Formal family rituals that have more standardization between families, may be culturally specific, help transmit values and memories through generations, and include rites of passage and religious and secular holiday celebrations.

Family Traditions

Formal family rituals that vary widely from family to family and include birthdays, family reunions, and family vacations, among other things.

Receptive Friendships

Friendships that include a status differential that makes the relationship asymmetrical.

Dark side of relationships

Includes actions that are deemed unacceptable by society at large and actions that are unproductive for those in the relationship.

Altruistic Lies

Lies told to build the self esteem of another person, communicate loyalty, or bend the truth to spare someone from hurtful information.

Situational Couple Violence

Most common type of IPV provoked by a particular situation that does not involve a quest for control in the relationship. "domestic violence"

Associative Friendships

Mutually pleasurable relationships between acquaintances or associates that, although positive, lack the commitment of reciprocal friendships.

Compassionate Love

Overall stable and consistent affection felt between two people whose lives are interdependent.

Information Peers

Peers who communication only about work-related topics and have a low level of self disclosure and trust.

Collegial Peers

Peers who engage in self disclosure about work and personal topics and communicate emotional support.

Special Peers

Peers who have high levels of self disclosure with relatively few limitations and are highly interdependent in terms of providing emotional and professional support for one another.

High Conversation Orientation

People communicate with each other freely and frequently about activities, thoughts, and feelings.

Low Conversation Orientation

People do not interact with each other as often and the topics of conversation are more restricted.

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)

Physical, verbal, and emotional violence that occurs between two people who are in or were recently in a romantic relationship.

Family of Orientation

Refers to people who share the same household and are connected by blood, legal bond, or who act/live as if they are connected by either.

Family of Origin

Refers to relatives connected by blood or other traditional legal bonds such as marriage or adoption and includes parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and so on.

Bonding Stage

Relational interaction stage that includes a public ritual that announces a formal commitment.

Terminating Stage

Relational interaction stage where a relationship ends.

Differentiating Stage

Relational interaction stage where communicating differences becomes a primary focus and people reestablish boundaries between themselves.

Circumscribing Stage

Relational interaction stage where communication decreases and certain areas or subjects become restricted as individuals verbally close themselves off from each other.

Experimenting Stage

Relational interaction stage where people exchange information and often move from strangers to acquaintances.

Intensifying Stage

Relational interaction stage where people indicate that they would like or are open to more intimacy, closeness, or interdependence.

Avoiding Stage

Relational interaction stage where people signal that they want to close down the lines of communication.

Initiating Stage

Relational interaction stage where people size each other up and try to present themselves favorably.

Stagnating Stage

Relational interaction stage where the relationship may come to a standstill, as individuals wait for the relationship to end.

Integrating Stage

Relational interaction stage where two people's identities and personalities merge and a sense of interdependence develops.

Supervisor-Subordinate Relationship

Relationship based in mentoring, friendship, or romance that includes two people, one of whom has formal authority over the other.

Peer Coworker Relationship

Relationship between two people who have no formal authority over the other and are interdependent in some way.

Mentoring Relationship

Relationship in which one person functions as a guide, helping another navigate toward career goals.

Friends With Benefits

Relationships that have the closeness of a friendship and the sexual activity of a romantic partnership without the expectations of romantic commitment or labels.

Workplace romances

Relationships that involve two coworkers who are emotionally and physically attracted to one another.

Social Relationships

Relationships that occasionally meet our needs and lack the closeness and interdependence of personal relationships.

Communicative Aggression

Reoccurring verbal or nonverbal communication that significantly and negatively affects a person's sense of self.

Extra dyadic Romantic Activity (ERA)

Sexual or emotional interaction with someone other than a primary romantic partner.

Reciprocal Friendships

Solid interpersonal relationships between people who are equals with a shared sense of loyalty and commitment.

Network Overlap

The number of shared associations, including friends and family, that a couple has.

Theory of Triangle

Theory that examines the relationship between three domains of activity: Corner 1) The primary partnership Corner 2) The inner self Corner 3) Important outside intersects

Social Exchange Theory

Theory that states we weigh the costs and rewards in our relationships.

Violence Resistance

Violence that is often a reaction or response to intimate terrorism.

Intimate Terrorism (IT)

Violence used by one partner to have general control over the other.

Friendships

Voluntary interpersonal relationships between two people who are usually equals and who mutually influence one another.