Personal Relationships: Application to Chapter 7

Chapter 7 in the textbook (Communication in Everyday Life) discusses personal relationships, both how they’re formed and what they have to offer in our everyday life. Three of the most important aspects of personal relationships are the relationship filtering model, the provisions of relationships and also the breakdown process model. These three aspects represent 3 of the stages that make up a relationship, starting with the creation of a new relationship and ending with the deterioration or change to a new form of relationship. It’s easy to relate these processes to any show or situation as relationships are being formed and changing everywhere all the time, but I will be discussing them in relation to the MTV television show “The Office”. The beginning of a new relationship calls for a filtering of all the possible candidates that surround us daily. There are an abundance of strangers around us, available for friendship (or something more) but very rarely do we just choose someone at random, we put them through some tests, some even before we talk to them. The first test is appearances. This includes an observation of things like age and sex as well as attractiveness. Most would seek out a person that looks somewhat similar to themselves in terms of age and clothing choices, as it would seem they have common beliefs and interests in how one should hold themselves in public. The second test is in behavior and nonverbal communication. This would be how somebody holds themselves and seems to treat others. Many seek out somebody with a confident air about them as they seem most sure of themselves, but for someone that is very shy it may be easier to approach somebody that is more reserved. The third test is the role that he person holds. If someone is in a role of authority someone may be less likely to initiate