Essay on Interpersonal Relationship

Words: 2914
Pages: 12

Everyone remembers his or her first relationship because it is a chapter in your life. I can look at my first relationship, recognize and apply the class material and analyze the relationship. Every interpersonal relationship involves some degree of emotion, both facilitative and debilitative with both people constructing and improving the weak points. I will be discussing a two and one half year relationship I had with an ex-boyfriend whom I will call John. This relationship was my first and only long-term relationship that I feel is perfect for this assignment because we went through various stages of Knapp’s model. I will be analyzing our relationship using Mark Knapp’s model of relationship development, the transactional model of …show more content…
He also said that he inherited his father’s behavior and that his took medication and attended anger management classes so he wouldn’t become his father. I was very surprised that he wanted to take control so I overlooked the negative aspect that he has problems. I shared information about my families past that I don’t share with my friends because I was encouraged by his disclosure. Most of out deep conversations were in the car or on the phone because we didn’t have direct eye contact and there were usually external distractions like noise from the radio or car sounds. As more time passed I became John’s girlfriend and entered the integrating stage of the relationship. We were a couple and people saw us as a social unit, at this point of the relationship we engaged in all four dimensions of intimacy. We engaged in physicality, such as holding hands, hugging, kissing as well as other forms of haptics that appear to outsiders that were in a relationship. Intellectual sharing was also something that John and I only did with immediate family that we now did with each other. We shared future dreams, religious beliefs, and even political standpoints. I found myself emotionally sharing information that I was ashamed or scared of. I also saw how John influenced my perceptions (negotiation) and I saw things through his point of view and went about activities like he would. I also adapted my speech style to match