Question #1

I found the entire chapter about interpersonal communication the most interesting part of this class. It was filled with concepts that were directly applicable to my everyday life. I found the figures of “Disconfirming Responses,” “Knapp’s Relational Development Model,” and “Duck’s Attraction Filter” all very interesting and insightful. The figures made it easy for me to recognize my own behavior, and focus on what could be done to improve my own interpersonal communication skills. The section within this chapter that focused on managing interpersonal communication and balancing interpersonal tensions was especially helpful to me in navigating tough situations in my romantic relationship, and understanding both mine, and my boyfriend’s behavior and reactions to each other’s behavior. The specific patterns that we have created became more easy to recognize, and the information and advice on how to avoid the dysfunctional patterns was extremely helpful to me. Realizing how often I was using disconfirmations was a painful thing to recognize in myself, but also helpful in making me a better partner.