Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Q2 Interesting Concepts
The concepts in the class that I found most interesting were the ones the dealt with interpersonal communication. I have always found it fascinating the different stages one experiences when developing a relationship. One particular concept I found interesting was relational development: stages in intimate dyads. The paths to and from intimacy was something that I have experienced myself and I am sure many of us have. For instance, the stages of coming together consist of initiating, experimenting, intensifying, integrating, and bonding. The initiating stage involves, initial impressions, observing cues about personality, attitudes, and willingness, and open communication channels. Experimenting is where couples find common ground to build their relationship. This is where most relationships stop. An aspect of the intensifying stage could be described as the usage of “we” or “ours” and may even complete each other’s thoughts. When they become a couple in both their eyes and others this is considered the integrating stage. Bonding in couples may incorporate marriage (Trenholm, 2008, p.153 -154). I have personally gone through all of these stages and the result: marriage.
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Hello,
ReplyDeleteI too found the chapter on interpersonal communication to be interesting. It was interesting to read of the relational tensions dyads experience.These included expressive- protective, autonomy-togetherness, and novelty-predictability. These tensions were of interest to me because I have experienced them in my relationships, and the tensions are hard to adjust to. As an example the autonomy-togetherness tension was one that I found hard to satisfy. How do you balance between having individual alone time to yourselves but still have that feeling of being conected. The novelty-predictability was also a hard one. After you have been with and around a person for so long, it is very difficult to have variety within the relationship