Stages of Relational Development
Berger and Calabrese separate the initial interaction of strangers into three stages: the entry stage, the personal stage, and the exit stage. Each stage includes interactional behaviors that serve as indicators of liking and disliking.
The entry stage of relational development is characterized by the use of behavioral norms. The contents of the exchanges are often demographic and transactional. The level of involvement will increase as the strangers move into the second stage.
The second stage, or personal phase, occurs when strangers begin to explore one another's attitudes and beliefs. Individuals typically enter this stage after they have had several entry stage interactions with a stranger. One will probe the other for indications of their values, morals and personal issues. Emotional involvement tends to increase as disclosure increases.
The final stage of interactional development is the exit phase. Here, the former strangers decide whether they want to continue to develop a relationship. If there is not mutual liking, either can choose not to pursue a relationship.
Understanding the cycle of relational development is key to studying how people seek to reduce uncertainty about others.
Dainton and Brook say “Relational uncertainty will be positively associated with jealousy, negatively associated with maintenance, and negatively associated with trust”.
Read more about this topic: Uncertainty Reduction Theory
Famous quotes containing the words stages of, stages and/or development:
“The playing adult steps sideward into another reality; the playing child advances forward to new stages of mastery....Child’s play is the infantile form of the human ability to deal with experience by creating model situations and to master reality by experiment and planning.”
—Erik H. Erikson (20th century)
“Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,
Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell
And the profit and loss.
A current under sea
Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell
He passed the stages of his age and youth
Entering the whirlpool.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“The experience of a sense of guilt for wrong-doing is necessary for the development of self-control. The guilt feelings will later serve as a warning signal which the child can produce himself when an impulse to repeat the naughty act comes over him. When the child can produce his on warning signals, independent of the actual presence of the adult, he is on the way to developing a conscience.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)