RELATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
What is a Relationship
• Interaction between two people over time
• Verbal and nonverbal exchanges
Aspects of Interaction
• CONTENT
– what people say and do; breadth and
depth
• PATTERN
– Structure of how people say and do;
sequences
• CONTEXT
– Interaction takes place within a
context that affects meaning
• CONTINUITY
– Past, present, future
Properties of Relationship
Development
• Partners interact more often, for longer
periods of time, and in a widening array
of settings
• Partners attempt to restore proximity
when separated, and feel comfortable
when proximity is regained
• Partners “open up” to each other, in the
sense that they disclose secrets and share
physical intimacies
• Partners become less inhibited, more
willing to share positive & negative
feelings, & to praise and criticize each
other.
• Partners develop their own communication system and become ever
more efficient in using it
• Partners increase their ability to map and anticipate each others’ views
of social reality
• They begin to synchronize their goals & behavior & develop stable
interpersonal patterns
• They increase in the relationship, thus their investment enhancing it’s
importance in their life space
• they begin increasingly to feel that their separate interests are
inextricably tied to the well-being of their relationship
• Partner’s increase their liking, trust &
love for each other
• Partner’s see the relationship as
irreplaceable, or at least as unique
• Partner’s more and more relate to others
as a couple rather than as individuals