Understanding Friendship through the Staircase Model

Relationships can have different forms such as between two lovers or between parent and child. There are many times in a relationship when it goes downhill due to lack of communication. Most fundamental form of relationship is Dyad where two people engage in communication of shared history and personal nature. Ruben and Stewart (2006) supports, “In any dyad, unique language patterns and communication patterns develop that differentiate that relationship from others”. One can easily see the dyadic relationship between friends. It is a type of relationship which can be characterized by the sharing of information, confidences, mutual assistance, enjoyment, spontaneity, and use of slang words that distinguish them from others. For instance, while talking with a friend one can use phrases such as “what’s up” “what’s going on” etc. On the other hand, while verbalizing to strangers one can use words such as “Hi” or “Hello”. A relationship among friend can also be regarded as an interpersonal relationship because as discussed above, both individuals are sharing emotional bonds, loyalty and mutual understanding with each other. The following paragraphs will discuss the current stage of friendship on “staircase” model, and will also discuss some limitations of this model, and finally will highlight the effect of mediated communication technologies on friendship.

According to Knapp and Vangelisti’s “staircase” model the current stage of my relationship with a friend can be considered at an Experimenting stage. As discussed in class, it is a phase in which a person often engages in “small talk” that might include where we’re from and whom we know (DiDomenico, 2013). I can tell that my chosen relationship is at this stage because before class ...

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...i Synchronous”, which means that there will be a delay before same message is transmitted to the receiver because the sender has to type the message (DiDomenico, 2013). This characteristic of media can be seen in any relationship it is not limited to friendship only. In addition, emoticons used in text messaging may not be the actual feeling of another partner, but just to see other partner happy they might send emoticons. Thus, by the use of technology one cannot predict if partner is avoiding a real contact or something else.

In conclusion, the basic form of relationship is dyad (person-to-person interaction). However, difficulties may arise when participants disagree about their stabilization in their relationship. This instability may arise due to issues of timing and technology, which enables both partners to originate and terminate relationships in new ways.