Think about the relationships in your life. Identify one you believe to be in one of the first five stages of Knapp's model. Take a moment to describe this relationship.

What kind of relationship is it? (personal-social, professional-functional)

Which stage of relational development does this relationship mirror, based on Knapp's Model?

What are five things you can do to keep this relationship progressing?

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What are some reasons you can share for why the relationship is at this stage?

Kind of relationship: personal-social

Stage: Initiation

What are five things you can do to keep this relationship progressing?

1. Always having perfume

2. Being clean and tidy

3. Always being polite

4. Give compliments to the person

5. Surprise the person

What are some reasons you can share for why the relationship is at this stage?

The reasons why I categorized the relationship in this stage, is because the person and I are only knowing each other. The Initiation stage is all about making an impression. So this stage the judging would not be accurate. People will be concerned with making favorable impressions.

The relationship I describe is personal-social. According to Knapp's model, the stage of relational development is Experimentation, in which individuals communicate revealing information about themselves. In this stage, small talk is used to find a common area of interest, and relationships are friendly and informal. In order to keep the relationship progressing, I can continue to make small talk until I feel like finding out if the other person is interested in me as well. I could also try to make conversation deeper, so that we move to the next phase, Intensifying. Besides, I could make communication more frequent and offer gifts as a demonstration of strong fondness.

The relationship is at the Experimentation stage because we make talk abut superficial things and gradually disclose information about us.