Question

Communication and Relational Dynamics

What is the most important thing you can do to ensure that your relationships will be long-lasting?

Answer 1

Communication is the tool used to form bonds throughout society and family. It is the ability to express one's desires and feelings to another in the hopes of a positive response.

Individuals form relationships on several qualities likes attraction, intimacy, and reward. These qualities have certain sections such as appearance and similarity for attraction, gender and the cultural influences for intimacy, and the different goals achieved such as compassion or shared benefits for rewards. All of these qualities are important when looking at creating a relationship.

Communication and relational dynamics have been described using two different characterizations of relational development and interaction.

Knapp's developmental models of relational stages should also include relational maintenance, which is communication aimed at keeping relationships operating smoothly, in addition to the ten stages.

1. Initiating is the stage where the goals are to show that one is interested in making contact and demonstrating that one is a person worthy of talking to.

2. Experimenting is the stage after initiating, wherein we seek information about the other person, sometimes using small talk to find the information we seek.

3. Intensifying involves shared activities, spending increased amounts of time together, etc., and is marked by relational excitement and euphoria.

4. Integrating is when couples take on an identity as a social unit and their social circles merge.

5. Bonding is the stage where couples make symbolic public gestures about their relationship.

6. Differentiating is when the couple starts to re-establish individual identities and occurs when the relationship begins to experience the first feelings of stress.

7. Circumscribing stage is when communication between members decreases in quality and quantity.

8. Stagnating occurs when circumscribing continues and no new growth occurs.

9. Avoiding takes place when stagnation becomes too unpleasant and people begin creating distance between each other.

10. Terminating is the end of the relationship.

Relationships are maintained through communication, as relationships need ongoing maintenance to keep them successful and satisfying.

1. Through content-oriented and relational messages: content-oriented messages are informational in nature, but they also contain information about how the communicators feel about each other and are relational. The expression of relational messages is usually achieved nonverbally, often through metacommunication which describes messages that refer to other messages.
2. Repairing damaged relationships is challenging, as problems arise from outside or internal forces or from a relational transgression, which is when one partner violates the explicit or implicit terms of the relationship. 1. Mino versus significant needs to be considered. Small doses of jealousy or anger or distance are not harmful, but large amounts are. 2. Social versus relational is another consideration. Some transgressions violate social rules shared by society, while others are relational and violate the unique norms constructed by the parties involved. 3. Deliberate versus unintentional captures the notion that while some transgressions are unintentional, others are deliberate. 4. One-time versus incremental means that some transgressions occur in a single episode while others occur over time.
3. Strategies for relational repair include discussing the violation and for the offending partner to offer an apology.
   1. The apology should consist of an acknowledgement of wrong-doing, a sincere apology, and some type of compensation.
   2. Forgiving transgressions is difficult, but it can be beneficial to both parties.