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Chapter 7 Glossary
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Attractiveness bias  the tendency to think better of attractive people than unattractive people and to make positive attributions about their behavior.
Breadth  the number of contexts in which communicators interact in a relationship.
Depth  the amount of time communicators interact and the personal level of information they exchange in a relationship.
Integrating topics  areas of common interest that members of a relationship enjoy discussing.
Interpersonal communication  occurs when individuals treat each other as unique and interact in an individual or customized way.
Interpersonal similarity  occurs when we share common attitudes, values, habits, and communication styles with other members of a relationship.
Intimate interpersonal relationships  characterized by high levels of trust, warmth, and affection; nonintimate relationships are more impersonal, distant, and formal.
Metacommunication  communication about communication; discussing the relationship dimension of messages is one type of metacommunication.
Disfranchised  alienated or excluded.
Estranged  no longer close or affectionate; unfriendly or hostile.
Fluctuates  changes, varies, alternatives, swings back and forth, ebbs and flows.
Idiosyncratic  personal, unique, individual, all your own.
Physical attraction  occurs when we are attracted to someone's appearance through such attributes as facial features, height, body type, and hair color.
Reciprocity  taking turns, responding in kind.
Ruminating  mull over, ponder, and think about over and over.
Self-disclosure  the intentional revelation of personal aspects of your self, including thoughts, preferences, feelings, and experiences, to another person within the context of an interpersonal relationship.
Social penetration theory  we disclose increasingly personal information about ourselves as the relationship develops, and we reserve discussion about our most private thoughts for our most intimate relationships.
Social proximity  refers to "social closeness"; and we are often attracted to people who live near us, belong to the same groups or organizations, or attend the same school.
Stages of relationship development  patterns or life cycles that relationships pass through as they develop or deteriorate. Relationships have a beginning (or birth), middle (coming of age), and an end (death).
Turning points  particular events, feelings, or interactions that change the direction or intensity of a relationship.







Dobkin, Comm ChangingWorld2006Online Learning Center with Powerweb

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