Development of Friendship Between Roommates

1019 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Social interaction and social exchange theory

Development of Friendship Between Roommates

The study of relationship and friendship development has become a very popular subject for social psychologists in the past twenty years or more. Social exchange processes, equity, similarity and self-disclosure (which was constructed by social penetration theorists Irwin Altman and Dalmas Taylor), are presupposed to be the main route to relationship and friendship development.

According to the article "Development of Friendship Between Roommates", there are some crucial factors for researching a study such as this one, conducted at the University of California, Los Angeles(otherwise known as UCLA). These factors include making sure that the social exchange processes, equity, similarity and self-disclosure are all studied jointly. Another factor that was extremely important was that of time dimension, because "friendships are extended in time and because each of those processes is proposed to change as a friendship develops" (346). Altman and Taylor hypothesized that "over time persons engage in increasingly intimate self-disclosure" (346).

Communal relationships have been found to function through the needs of others and by the relationships of family and close friends, communal relationships are illustrated. It can be asumed that "as a friendship develops, the basis of exchange might become more communal" (347). Altman and Taylor's social penetration theory is heavily drawn from Thibaut and Kelly's theory of social exchange. Altman and Taylor believe that the nature of social exchange can foretell when people will self-disclose, as hypothesized by social penetration. The social exchange theory shows: People desire to maximize their outcomes (the end result of what is happe...

... middle of paper ...

...es, I have found that too much self-disclosure too early in a relationship/friendship may lead to negative outcomes. This may occur, for example when a person self-discloses too much about themselves, leaving them vulnerable to rejection or embarassment. Also if the other person doesn't reciprocate, that could cause the self-disclosed person to feel uncomfortable. You need to build a relationship/friendship, and over time, as you disclose more, there will be a more trustworthy and supportive base to the relationship. So over all, the article did an excellent job reinforcing the importance of time in building a relationship through social penetration, or self-disclosure.

Works Cited

Berg, John H. "Development of Friendship Between Roommates." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Mississippi: American Psychological Association, Inc., 1984. 346-56.

Show More
Related

  • The Effect of Penn State’s Roommate Selection Options on Friendship

    2654 Words  | 6 Pages

    Our literature review consisted of six scholarly articles that were studies done on students who were going into college. The first article that we found focused on how important communication is when it comes to making friends. McEwan & Guerrero (2010) talked about the benefits of communication before getting to know someone. We based our questions off of this article regarding communication in order to find out about roommate interactions.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Mindy Kaling

    1206 Words  | 3 Pages

    Because of this, Steve Duck of University of Iowa refers to women’s studies as “understudied relationships” (Duck 1). In his book, Under-Studied Relationships: Off the Beaten Track, Steve delves into the complicated world that is friendship between women. He reveals that even the best of relationships, more often than not, will “dissolve due to geographical distance”, especially during the transition from high school to college (133). However, Duck claims that this occurrence during young adult transitional periods is “more detrimental to male friendships than female friendships” (133). He explains that, “men’s inability to maintain distal friends may be due to a lack of awareness about and skills to utilize effective strategies that maintain a [friendship]” (184). This argument implies that though males are invested in their friendships, they do not express as much emotional interest in these relationships as their female counterparts. While distance may seem challenging for women to overcome, they collectively put more effort into preserving their friendships than men. Duck further instills this concept by explaining that “women’s same-sex friendships tend to be based more on intimate and emotional discussions than men’s” (186). Men, Duck argues, lack the depth in their friendships that women possess, and, for this reason, have difficulty sustaining a friendship that is met with the strain

    Read More

  • Erickson's Developmental Stages: Transformation through Adulthood

    1139 Words  | 3 Pages

    For instance, one of the most influential theories in human development is Erick Erickson’s developmental theory, in which he separated human development in stages. His stages of development encompassed about ambiguous developmental period that he characterized as the conflict of Intimacy vs. Isolation in young adult, Generativity vs Stagnation in middle adulthood and Integrity vs. Despair in late adulthood (Schwartz, 2001). Erickson’s developmental stages theory paves the way for in-depth research on social developmental changes that occurred from young adulthood (18-25), middle adulthood (26-39), to late adulthood (40-67). In his developmental research on social relationships, Berndt (2002) found that friendships vary in term of quality, stability,

    Read More

  • Necessary Losses by Judith Viorst

    1269 Words  | 3 Pages

    From a young age most people have gone through many relationships with other people who were not their family. Thus, we often acknowledge these relationships as friendships. But the word friend is too broad, so people categorize their friends to several types. In her book “Necessary Losses: The Lovers, Illusions, Dependencies and Impossible Expectations That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Grow”, Judith Viorst divided friendships to six types. Those are convenience friends, special Interest friends, historical friends, crossroad friends, cross-generation friends and close friends. In my life, I have been friend with many people since I was little. Although I have met all six kinds of friend of Viorst, convenience friends and close friends are two important kinds of friends in my life.

    Read More

  • Relationship Relationships

    1352 Words  | 3 Pages

    As people grow, a variety of relationships develop over time. Relationships with family, friends, and romantic partners are such examples of these diverse ties. Friendships in particular are affected by the following: the level of interaction involved, how communication between two friends is established, and contact, if they exist, between multiple circles of friends through one person. Some examples of these are friendship expectations, the stages of childhood friendship, and the stages of adult friendship.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of The Self-Expansion Theory And Relationships

    737 Words  | 2 Pages

    The self-expansion model suggests that we all have a drive to seek out new opportunities and become ‘better’ people from acquiring new perspectives, resources, and identities (Mattingly, Lewandowski Jr., 2013). Individuals undergo self-expansion through novel, challenging, and exciting activities with their partner, or in this case, their roommate (Aron, Lewandowski, Mashek, Aron, 2013). Relationships enter into the equation because we are often guided to new experiences and ways of thinking through engagement with other people who introduce us and participate with us in activities and conversations we may not have otherwise tried. For example, since freshman in college tend to bond quicker with their roommates, this might be the person you engage in the most activities with before you are able to branch out and meet other people. The synergy suggested here shows that when relationships are mutually beneficial, each participant grows. This in turn improves satisfaction in the

    Read More

  • Minimum Wage Effects

    351 Words  | 1 Pages

    “I don't know of a single economist who disagrees that when you raise the minimum wage, you kill jobs for the poor”- Newt Gingrich. A federal and state minimum wage is good for the economy to incentivise workers, and make sure people are not underpaid, but if the minimum wage is too extensive, it can have drawbacks on the economy. While having a minimum wage, there are both positive and negative effects, but it seems to be a stable balance. When raising the wage, it appears that the same balance is possibly thrown off.

    Read More

  • Raising Minimum Wage

    422 Words  | 1 Pages

    If today’s economy kept up with the minimum wage in correlation to worker productivity it would be $21.52, but instead the minimum wage is a measly $7.25. Today the topic of raising the minimum wage to $15 has become a controversial topic, so much that it has become a discussion point in the 2016 Presidential debates. Those who support raising the minimum wage argue that it will help stimulate the economy and lower the number poverty stricken families. Those who oppose raising the minimum wage rebottle that it will only raise inflation and increase the number of unemployed workers. The federal government should raise the minimum wage to $15 because it would help the working poor climb out of poverty, boost economic activity, and lessen the

    Read More

  • The Effects Of Raising Minimum Wage

    326 Words  | 1 Pages

    “Raising the minimum wage” has recently been the center of debate nation-wide and has continuously gained support and opposition since President Obama first mentioned it in 2013. As protest groups form in support of raising the minimum wage across the nation, opponents are formulating reasons why an increase hurts the economy, businesses, and the people intended to benefit from the increase. Studies from both sides show compelling differences

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Same Sex Friendship

    1124 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the process of the study, 100 adult males and 131 adult females assess the frequency of occurrence of (100) costs and benefits in the most secured same-sex and opposite sex relationships. Also in the process of study (2) 92 adult males and 137 adult females evaluated how the cost and benefits would affect each individual if it were to occur in their secured same sex or opposite sex friendship. Based on these hypotheses, one may perceive the characteristics of friendship as costly and be...

    Read More

  • Fast Food Good Or Bad Essay

    3034 Words  | 7 Pages

    "Every responsible person understands what is in products such as hamburgers and fries, as well as the consequence to one's waistline, and potentially to one's health, of excessively eating those foods over a prolonged period of time” (Wald, 2003). This was a statement made by McDonald’s lawyers in 2003 during a court case in which McDonald’s was being sued for their failure to inform people of the nutritional value of their food. The vast majority of overweight or obese people in the United States have gotten that way due to a lack of care when it comes to the foods they eat, specifically fast food. The negative effects of fast food on health is widespread knowledge in the United States, but most people choose to ignore it and doing so has resulted in America being labelled as the ‘fattest country’ in the world. Some of these negative effects include a recent surge in obesity in both children and adults, food addiction that people are not aware that they have, and life-altering weight related sicknesses and diseases. A major player in these and many other negative things has been the fast food industry as a whole.

    Read More

  • Impact of Social Media on Relationships

    1047 Words  | 3 Pages

    The purpose of this literary analysis is to determine if social networks are helpful or harmful to relationships. As social networking evolves, different aspects of communication suffer. Such as the social penetration theory, which “describes people as onions with several layers of information”. pressed tightly together in the cuff. The outermost layer consists of the kind of information you would get.

    Read More

  • Fast Food

    792 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Over a third of the adult population is overweight or obese” (Carolyn Robbins, Is Eating Fast Food Bad for Your Health). Many fast food meals contain a day worth of recommend calories in one meal. Since fast food has close to over two thousands calories, it’s no surprise that all fingers are pointed to fast food businesses. Individuals eat fast food at least twice a day even when knowing the facts about fast food. Knowing that harmful foods are high in salts and fats mostly everyone will continue to eat the products. Since the blame of obesity as fallen on the fast food industries the restaurants have made alternation to preparing the food to reduce calories. These alternations might seem healthier, but the fact is it is not. These foods contain trans fats from the factors that has prepared them for the fast food restaurants. Fatty acids are already injected into many of the products so alternating the menu to look healthy really doesn’t solve America obesity problem. Obesity is the main focus in America, but it is not t...

    Read More

  • Fast Food Advertising Analysis

    1542 Words  | 4 Pages

    Fast food restaurants have became a routine matter of life in America. Americans eat more fast food than other food due to lifestyle and the way fast food restaurants are marketed to target their audience. Fast food restaurants in America seem to be convenient, cheap, and taste good, however, they can be a harm to the consumers’ health and body. When people choose between healthy food, fast food or time; they rather buy food from fast food because people think it is cheaper and there will be more money left to pay bills or there is no time to make homemade food, but what they don’t know is that the quality of food in fast food is poor and can lead to obesity and other serious health problem. Behind those tasty fast food advertisings, the type

    Read More

  • Social Exchange Theory by George Homans

    1693 Words  | 4 Pages

    Social Exchange theory was created by George Homans in 1958. Since its publication as “Social Behavior as Exchange”, several other theorists like Peter Blau, Richard Emerson, John Thibaut, and Harold Kelley have contributed to the theory. Before diving into the biggest concepts of this theory, two main properties need to be discussed. This theory is all about social exchanges, which are essentially reactions and decisions in relationships. The two properties are self-interest and interdependence. They are the two fundamental interactions between two individuals who each have something of value to the other. When an individual is looking out for their own self-interest, they are looking out for their own economic and psychological needs which can result in things like greed and competition. However, self-interest is not seen as a negative thing; in fact, it can result in both parties achieving their own interests. Interdependence, on the other hand, is harder to study but it is the combination of the two using both their efforts to gain something. Interdependence has higher social implications. Homans, as the founder of the theory, had it say that the theory consists of a social exchange with rewards and costs between at least two people. Rewards are defined as objects that have a positive value and are sought out by individuals. Costs are defined as objects that have a negative value and are avoided by individuals. Rewards in regards to relationships are things like support, friendship, and acceptance, while costs are things like energy spent, time, and money. Essentially this theory states that every individual is trying to maximize their wins or their worth and end up with something that is more positive than negative. Worth equ...

    Read More

More about Development of Friendship Between Roommates

Open Document