Weiss and Lowenthal’s study of individuals’ perceptions of friendship as they vary in age reveals that there are a certain factors that are generally consistent amongst friend groups. These factors can be sectioned off into either a biologically basis, a situational basis, or a personal qualities basis. The biological factors would include: being around the same age, as well as being the same sex, and race. The situational factors that are largely considered influencers in the value of a friendship generally revolve around the sharing of: interests, experiences, activities, and the ability to feel comfortable talking with one another. Finally, the personal qualities that are portrayed as creating value in a friendship include being: supportive, dependable, understanding, and accepting (1975).
Though Weiss and Lowenthal’s
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This congruency theory suggests that congruency within an interpersonal relationship would likely create mutual feelings of liking – or attraction. A few possible explanations for any supportive data for the congruency theory might include: attraction of one participant in the relationship having the basis of their belief of congruency with the other participant in the relationship being that of how they perceive their behavior to be, rather than how that participant’s behavior actually is. Another explanation may be the fact that how one perceives their self could easily be the result of their need to feel similar to the other participant, who they already have established attraction for. The final explanation the authors provide is that there is some confounding variable that is influencing both the participants’ liking towards one another and the measured congruency
Friendship can be debated as both a blessing and a curse; as a necessary part of life to be happy or an unnecessary use of time. Friends can be a source of joy and support, they can be a constant stress and something that brings us down, or anywhere in between. In Book 9 of Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle discusses to great lengths what friendship is and how we should go about these relationships. In the short story “Melvin in the Sixth Grade” by Dana Johnson, we see the main character Avery’s struggle to find herself and also find friendship, as well as Melvin’s rejection of the notion that one must have friends.
Marion Winik’s “What Are Friends For?” expresses the characteristics of friendships and their importance in her existence. Winik begins by stating her theory of how some people can’t contribute as much to a friendship with their characteristic traits, while others can fulfill the friendship. She illustrates the eight friendships she has experienced, categorized as Buddies, Relative Friends, Work Friends, Faraway Friends, Former Friends, Friends You Love to Hate, Hero Friends, and New Friends. In like manner, the friendships that I have experienced agree and contradict with Winik’s categorizations.
“No one knows the exact definition of "Friendship"; however, they do have their own way to tell if they have a friend or not.”
However, some variation and possible novelty surfaced in this period of the lifespan. According to (Clark, Ouellette, Powell, & Milberg, 1987), in late adulthood, social interactions are more about communal orientation. Meaning that in this stage, friendships are deeply about the welfare of friends, concerns for friend’s well-being, and support, which portrayed this stage mainly about high quality relations. In his research, Field (1999) reported that late adults’ deep care for friend’s well-being is understandable for the fact that, older adults are in the stage where health issues often emerge, therefore, a sense of vulnerability arised. However, normative life events that retained social interactions in middle adulthood decrease because they are most likely release from family restraint, workforce responsibility and past personal obligations (Field,
Throughout our lives, we value many things. Whether it’s valuing family, a passion, or even priorities, we highly praise certain things. For now, let’s take friendship into consideration. Some individuals value friendship whereas others don’t. Those who value friendship value it because they turn to in order to seek shelter when there’s nowhere else to turn to. It is safe to say friendship is a significant part of our lives, and no individual can vouch for friendship like Greek philosopher, Aristotle. Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics delves into this idea of friendship being a necessity as well as conveying the three types of friendship he establishes. Friendship based on utility, pleasure, and virtue were thoroughly examined and ultimately, Aristotle developed a stance on the fact that friendship based on virtue is the one to attain. Subsequently, he provides a strong foundation for which he says friendship based on utility and pleasure are unstable friendships.
There are different kinds of friendship, ones that bring about certain goods for each other such as men of business or of some type of exchange. There also exists a state of friendship where pleasure is given, that in this state what is being given are pleasurable things and that each loves what is being given and as such continuous until such qualities cease to come
There are two type of friendship: homophilic, friends because of same identity, or heterophilic, friends because of interest or proximity (Maxwell, 2002, p 268). Because of an influx of immigrants, Millennials are surrounded by immigrants. Along with Millennials being more optimist and open minded, the presence of a different culture sparks interest, helping form a heterophilic friendship. Because of immigration and Millennials attitudes, friendship between two different culture is plausible and doable, promoting the development of tolerant and acceptance in
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.
I would define friendship as complete trust and love between two people. Many people believe that this kind of behavior is reciprocated between two individuals without any expectations. A friend is someone who also provides you with support and whom you can rely on to celebrate special moments with. A friend also comes with many great attributes; such as loyalty, honesty, compassion, trust, and morality. Today’s friend is viewed as someone who shares happiness, common values, history, and equality with another. For example, Aristotle and Cicero both wrote dialogues about friendship and its significance on mankind. Therefore, the key issues that will be discussed are: their views on the similarities of friendship, the differences between friends,
Klohnen, E., & Luo, S. (2003). Interpersonal attraction and personality: What is attractive--self similarity, ideal similarity, complementarity or attachment
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.
This longitudinal perspective opens up the possibility that the peer social environment is one that is dynamic. Friendships can be added and terminated resulting in the number of friends reported changes from childhood into and through adolescence. Children moving from intimate elementary classroom settings into a broader age range of adolescents in junior high and high school increases the potential for developing friendships with older adolescents. At the same time, the quality of the relationships with these friends may also be changing. Adolescent relationships are becoming more intimate than those of childhood with the sharing of intimate feelings and being aware of the needs of others becoming a prominent feature of friendship during adolescence.
Besides looking at the influence that close friendship has on the cognitive development in childhood, another factor that was focused upon is the emotion component. Past research has shown that having friends help to buffer negative repercussion from peer rejections as it provides a positive emotional function (Estell, et al., 2009). The importance of close friendship in childhood is illustrated by a finding of 18 years of longitudinal study, which reported people who had no close friends during childhood are prone to have psychological predicament where they demonstrate symptoms of internalizing or externalizing (Sakyi, Surkan, Fombonne, Chollet & Melchior, 2015). In close friendship, there are differences between gender. This can be seen in a research that indicated that among close friendship between girls and boys, girls have the tendency to be more affectionate in sharing their personal details as compared to boys who are more prone engaging in physical activities (Beazidou & Botsoglou, 2016). This is supported by the information that girls are more inclined to show affinity while boys are more prone to show power (Rabaglietti, Vacirca, Zucchetti & Ciairano,
There are many valuable things in life like family, sports, school but what about friendship? To live life without friendship is something no one should ever go through. Friendship is a necessity to living a successful life. Friendship occurs when someone is a supporter, gives assistance, and is attached to someone all the while genuinely taking care of them when they are hurt (The definition of friend, 1995-2002). A good and healthy friendship can be defined fro individuals as when someone has his or her own support system, a friend being loyal, and will always have genuine and mutual trust.
Most beautiful kindred of all of humans are the companionship. Without excitement, confusion, tangles and commitment life becomes a cake-walk if people have a hand of a friend to hold on. Can everyone imagine if there is no friendship in the world? Nobody will care about one another. Friends are the pillars of strength that give support and comfort in life "A hedge between keeps friendship green”. Friendship is the one of the medium that can build unity among community. As Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President of United States, once said, “Friendship is the only cement that will hold the world together”, I strongly agree to his statement because friendship teach to help one another, learn to accept each other and build trust and faith towards each other.