In class on Monday we began to discuss the nuts and bolts of relationships and also the theories that encompass them. By default it made me reflect on my own relationships. The first thing we established was relationship development and understanding this coincided with the theories we would later learn. Relationship development is how our relationships change over time in a cognitive, emotional, and behavioral sense. As expected communication plays a big part in relationships. It is well recognized that communication is vital in any and all relationships. I feel a lack of communication leads to the end of relationships. One thing I noticed about the different theories is the way communication functions is similar in all three.
The Social Penetration Theory defines relationship development as a smooth and steady progression from knowing a little to a lot also being motivated by rewards. Learning about this theory made me relate it to my romantic relationships the most. At first we go from barely knowing the person to possibly being in a relationship and the reward being able to give and receive love from that person. Uncertainty Reduction Theory says we don't like uncertainty in our relationships. The more uncertainty there is the more the relationship becomes distant. Less uncertainty reduces that distant and makes the relationship stronger. When I thought about how this applied in my life I thought about an experience I had for buying a ticket to a concert. It was from a person I did not know and I paid using Venmo. There was a lot of uncertainties in the exchange and both parties were worried about if the transaction would be successful. Luckily everything went smoothly but the uncertainties easily drove us both insane. The last theory we looked at was the Dialectic Theory. This theory says that people have competing desires for autonomy and connection whether it be open or closed. I related this theory to the many basketball teams I have been on. Whenever I am on a team I strived to become really close to my teammates so we can perform better on the court. I feel the more open our relationship is the stronger it is.
The quick glance at these theories have made it easier for me to reflect on my relationships and even see how I can improve them. Is there ever such a thing as too much communication in a relationship?
4 comments:
I like how you connected multiple specific relationships in your life to each theory we discussed in class. Thank you for sharing! Thinking about real examples helps me to understand the theory a lot better.
I liked this post a lot! Having real-life examples helps me apply it to my own life. I also really liked your ending question; can there ever be too much communication in a relationship? I think it depends on what relationship it is, for example, I think there could be too much communication with family members, I'm not going to tell my Mom every detail of the party I went to over the weekend. I would tell one of my closest friends almost every detail because I may need to vent, want advice, or because they're in my life and they know what's going on with me. You have to know that the person is open and won't judge you for being too open. I am very open with most people I meet, I feel like it brings me closer to people.
I thought this post was very insightful and cool. your real world examples were fascinating. I also appreciated how you talked about social penetration theory. do you think we reflect on our relationships enough.
Zeke - Nice work on summarizing class topics, as well as the three relationship development theories. It seems like you have a great handle on these! It's interesting to see how you can relate different types of relationships and experiences to these different theories. I still wanted to know about your own opinions about the theories, and why you thought it was important to write about them this week. You mention that they allowed you to see what you could improve in your relationships. How did they do this? Which theory do you relate to most? I understand that they can be applied to various types of relationships, but do you think you align with any of them more than the others? As you for your last question, I can see too much communication being a thing! I really hate when people text me too much, maynbe it just depends on the relationship. For anyone that knows me, they know that I don't like texting, so I don't often run into problems with "too much" communication. What about you?
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