Interpersonal Relationship

Everyone remembers his or her first relationship because it is a chapter in your life. I can look at my first relationship, recognize and apply the class material and analyze the relationship. Every interpersonal relationship involves some degree of emotion, both facilitative and debilitative with both people constructing and improving the weak points. I will be discussing a two and one half year relationship I had with an ex-boyfriend whom I will call John. This relationship was my first and only long-term relationship that I feel is perfect for this assignment because we went through various stages of Knapp’s model. I will be analyzing our relationship using Mark Knapp’s model of relationship development, the transactional model of communication, and the Johari Window. I decided to use this relationship as an attempt to analyze the relationship and not let my perception; self-serving bias or personal constructs get in the way, which is difficult to do when you can take a cognitive complexity approach. During the process of analyzing our relationship and writing this paper I realized that was I was at fault at times and saw my flaws. Since taking this class I can only improve my communication for the future. My junior year of high school, I moved to a new town in Rhode Island. I was sad and my parents felt guilty for they finally gave me the independence I craved when I got my license and car. I joined sports teams, made friends with the “popular crowd” got a job and had a positive self- esteem. I found a place in my high school and was truly happy with my life. My reference group in school was a “popular jock” since I excelled in sports and made friends with the in crowd, my impression management led me to believe that and identify with that crowd. I would not consider the term “ popular jock” as a stereotype, but rather an identity circle since the majority of my time was spent practicing or hanging out with other student athletes at my school. With my new