How Personal Are Your Relationships?

1) What are the unique qualities of your relationships?

In most of my relationships my uniqueness in conversation is well rounded. With my mother I can joke with her, but I also know where to draw the line. With my best friend I can act crazy and she won't think any different of me. My way of interacting with most people is usually the same, very energetic and fun!

2) How irreplaceable are your relationships?

Most of my close relationships are irreplaceable. For instance, My Father is an irreplaceable figure in my life. He is unique in every sense and no matter what happens he will always be my Daddy. I also have a boy-friend. He is irreplaceable and unique in that no one is like him, but I have had others to fill that relationship role in my life.

3) How much interdependence characterizes your different relationships?

Interdependence with others is a very important aspect in my life. I long for attention from others and usually my dependency upon another human being is unique and irreplaceable. The dependency in my brother and my relationship is very strong. Although some people do not have a brother I find our interdependency irreplaceable in that we rely on one another in several aspects. He needs me to help babysit his kids, I need money, and we both care for one another and show moral support in every our lives. Our relationship would not be the same if we did not have this unique and irreplaceable level of trust and interdependency.

4) Compare the amounts of self-disclosure present in your relationships along the p.25 impersonal interpersonal spectrum.

I am a very open person. I can usually tell anyone how I feel or what's going on in my life. As I have gotten older, I have found that this is usually not the best thing to do. My sister-in-law would never judge me. She always encourages me to do the right thing and most importantly she doesn't tell my parents what I'm doing. I can usually tell her anything that's going on.

I can also share my personal thoughts and feelings with my real sister and know that I am going to get positive ideas and I won't be thought less of, but she might tell my mom. I remember going through a hard time with an ex-boyfriend of mine, my sister was there for me the whole time.

5) Distinguish the rewards (extrinsic and intrinsic) in your different relationships.

I love being with my family. When I was younger my favorite person to hang out with was my brother-in-law. He couldn't be mean to me because he was trying to become my sister's husband and he needed to get in good with our parents. He was and still is a fun guy to hang out with. I remember always wanting to go on my sister's dates with them because he was just fun to be around. The extrinsic rewards I received from him were a great big brother-in-law, lots of toys and games, and a great buddy! Intrinsic rewards I received were also a dear big brother-in-law, a person who really cared about my well being, and someone who would always be there for me.


Conclusion:

I evaluated eight of my close personal relationships. Each one: my mom, dad, brother, sister, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, best friend, and boyfriend were strong in there relationship. The only one who was not as high was my current boy-friend, but that is because I've only known him for three months. I hope to continue my interpersonal skills and growing in not only my close relationships, but others as well!