Knapp's Interaction Theory

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Communication is the foundation of where we stimulate meanings, perspective of others through using verbal, and nonverbal actions. It requires at least two people to interact together and this helps build up interconnective-ness. Through encounters with multiple people, a connection can form a friendship and can further process into a long life relationship or end up coming to an end. When a relationship comes to an end, it can be heartbreaking. Whether it is a friendship or a romantic relationship, losing someone has a huge effect. Through the use of Knapp’s relationship model, the concepts of culturally bound, interaction appearance theory, and social penetration theory influences heavily on relationships. There are multiple stages between …show more content…

In the first stages of Knapp’s relationship model of differentiating, the interaction appearance theory applies to how a relationship can drift apart because the perception of that person changes overtime. According to Stangor’s argument, he states that each person tends to have another perspective of each other after a long period of time and how they carefully process information to each other. They both wanted to be individualistic of one another. For example, it got harder for Jenny to understand the adult world and how to adapt to changes of growing up. She was not able to relate to her “ best friend ” anymore because Hien was focused on herself and did not give much support due to her constantly being busy. Jenny felt neglected and by herself. The age gap was only two years, but made a big impact on the relationship because as Jenny was finishing up high school, Hien was in college focused on figuring out her career path. They both began to drift apart due to having different perspectives. There was also overwhelming stress and pressure from social interactions and family. They began to lean towards being more individualistic and not depending on each other as much as they did in the …show more content…

The social penetration theory states that there is an emotional bond at this point in the relationship. As an example, an onion is used as an analogy of outer presence and the inside is the values and self concept within the individual. It dives deeper into each person’s goals, aspirations, and beliefs. Jenny and Hien had deep conversations and tried to work out their wants and needs, by making more time for each other. Each person had fears and a different perception of how they view themselves and each other. Hien was going through depression and did not have much self confidence in herself. This resulted in a deeper connection into the relationship. However, this phase did not last long. There was a huge fight and Jenny got wrongfully accused of ruining the friendship due to her mother not approving of their