The Pros And Cons Of Enemy Relationships

The readings this week were titled, friends and enemies. Upon first reading this headline for the week I was already intrigued as I had never read any studies that discuss enemy relationships. The topics covered in this week’s readings discussed how friendships affect social skills. In addition similarly to last week gender differences were discussed, specifically in regards to how boys and girls react to problem talk. The most interesting topic to read was in regards to how people may need enemies. I have always been under the impression that rivalries were healthy, but I thought holding hate towards another would be considered unhealthy. However, when the article framed it in as a mutual "hatred" it started to make more sense.

In the article written by Glick and Rose (2011) they examined friendships effect on the development of social skills. In addition, they examined whether having friends and friendship quality predicted changes in social strategies over time. This study also explored gender differences; they expected that girls would be more likely to incorporate helping or supportive

The article discussed some of the pros and cons of having an enemy. I will first say I think the concept of studying about how enemy relationships work is quite interesting. However, I don’t know if I agree with some of the methods used to study enemy relationships. For example with the Scenario question “You are stranded on a desert island. Which three of your classmates would you hate to get stuck with on the island?” I feel like if this were asked to a group or class, this question could potentially foster bullying. The author mentions that rejected children often have higher levels of antipathies; I think that researchers should keep this in mind when collecting data. It is important to learn about this topic but we must ensure that it's not hurting participants in ways we might not