Chapter 8 Developing and Maintaining relationships

Social Information Processing Theory

Argues that communicators use unique language and stylistic cues in their online messages to develop relationships that are just as close as those that develop face to face, but often take more time to become intimate

impersonal communication

Communication between people about general information, such as saying "hi" to someone in the hallway

intensification stage of a Relationship

Occurs when relational partners become increasingly intimate and move their communication toward more personal self-disclosure

Third party mediation

The partners have a friend or family member mediate the reconciliation

high affect

The partners resolve to be nice and polite to one another and possibly remind each other of what they found attractive about the other in the first place

Initiating Stage of a Relationship

You make contact with another person

friendship

a close and caring relationship between two people that is perceived as mutually satisfying and beneficial

love

a deep affection for and attachment to another person involving emotional ties, with varying degrees of passion, commitment, and intimacy

companionship

a feeling of fellowship or friendship

family

a social group whose members are bound legal, biological, or emotional ties, or a combination of all three

openness

a state in which communicators are willing to share their ideas and personal information

Reconciliation stage of a Relationship

attempts to rekindle an extinguished relationship.

intimacy

closeness and understanding of a relational partner

hyperpersonal communication

communication that is even more personal and intimate than face-to-face interaction

personal and social needs

companionship, stimulation, meeting goals

dialectical tensions

conflicts between two important but opposing relational needs or desires * autonomy vs connection * openness vs closedness * predictability vs novelty

predictability

consistency, reliability, and dependability in a relationship

Managing Relationship Dynamics

costs and rewards reducing uncertainty dialectical tensions

connection

dependence

Termination stage of a Relationship

end a relationship

Communication Privacy Management Theory

explains how people create and manage privacy boundaries in their relationships, choosing if and when to disclose their own private information

autonomy

independence

stimulation

intellectual, emotional, and physical

interactive strategies

involve communicating directly with the person

active strategies

let you obtain information about a person more directly by seeking information from a third party

strategic topic avoidance

maneuver the conversation away from potentially embarrassing, vulnerable, or otherwise undesirable topics

Meeting Goals

mundane needs for achieving practical goals

proximity

nearness

passive strategies

observing others in communication situations without actually interacting with them

tacit persistence

one or both partners refuse to give up on the relationship

Repair stage of a Relationship

partners attempt to save or repair their relationship by changing their behavior, interactions, or expectations.

Avoidance

partners avoid spending time together and begin to miss each other

mutual interaction

partners begin talking more often, becoming friends

spontaneous development

partners wind up spending more time together due to common interests, (children, dog, house etc)

Reducing Uncertainty

passive, active, interactive

Stable Stage of a Relationship

relationship is no longer volatile or temporary

social relationships

relationships that are functional within a specific context but are less intimate than friendship

self-disclosure

revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others

attractive qualities

sense of fun, outgoing personality, intellectual prowess, simply warm smile

turning point

significant relational events which spark positive or negative changes that stand out defining relationships

novelty

something new or unusual

closedness

the desire to maintain one's privacy in a relationship

Rewards

the elements of a relationship that you feel good about

interpersonal communication

the exchange of thoughts, feelings, and beliefs between two or more people

similarity

the tendency to perceive things that look similar to each other as being part of the same group

social exchange theory

the theory that our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs

Costs

the things that upset or annoy you, cause you stress, or damage your own self-image or lifestyle

Social Penetration Theory

theory that proposes relationships develop through increases in self-disclosure, like peeling an onion layer by layer

boundary turbulence

threat to your privacy boundaries

declining stage

uncertainty events, interference, unmet expectations

relational network

web of relationships that connect individuals to one another

Declining stage of a Relationship

when the relationship begins to come apart

Exploratory Stage of a Relationship

you are seeking relatively superficial information from your partner