What is Friendship?
What is Friendship exactly? Is it solely the mutual relationship between two individuals, or is it something that is deeper than that. The Oxford dictionary defines friendship as,
"A person with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically one exclusive of sexual or family relations"
So, a friendship is the connection of common communication and a bond between two or more individuals. It can also be defined as a,
"Non-contractual relationship, marked by voluntary interdependence, formed and maintained for the sole purpose of its own existence and preservation."
This “non-contractual relationship” can some times be quite profound and last for many years, or be shallow and only last for a few hours. Through out the development of a friendship, individuals tend to form expectations about how a friend might behave. They expect each other to be available for physical or mental support in times of dire need. Not only will they look to each other for current support, but also support of the future. Friendships that hope to last well into the future will take a lot of care and maintenance. If that is not applied to a friendship, then most likely the friendship will fall apart. It is is really important to establish the fact that if both individuals do not put in an equal share of care and compassion for one another and the relationship, they will slowly drift apart from each other.
There are typically set ways in which a friendship is established. These standards are established by Hall, Larson and Watts, in the Research titled: Satisfying Friendship Maintenance Expectations: The Role of Friendship standards and Biological Sex (2011), in the Ideal Standards Model (ISM). It is a social-cognitive model that seeks to understand how individuals evaluate their romantic relationships. These romantic relationships can range from associates, to best friends and all the way up to life partners. But, this model can also be used to evaluate friendships among people. The standard dimensions in the establishment of the modified ISM, or Friendship Maintenance Standards, are,
1.The association with a friends’ daily expectations and if they have been filled.
2. Weather the daily interaction has positively or negatively influenced the friendship between two individuals. The satisfaction of both individuals of the friendship.
By establishing different results it is possible to rank the amount of friendship that two individuals maintain with each other. It is easy to find that every friendship will be different depending on the amount of time, effort, and ideas that each person puts in. Friendship can also become very complex due to factors such as sexual attraction on one side of the friendship or different social/economic classes. Friendships will also differ on the notion of distance. A relationship where both individuals are able to interact on a daily basis will generate more satisfactory friendship, than one where they barely spend any time together at all. This is why it is extremely beneficial to international friendship, to know more about how other cultures interact. Being able to establish a well formed friendship will hopefully be able to keep a distant friendship alive. Still, to do so will take a lot of effort on both sides of the friendship.
Friendship in the United States (Local & National Level)
Friendship in the American setting is extremely different from that of the rest of the world. We typically see a friend as an “Ally” in our endeavors of life. Typically Americans form friendships with people of similar social, economic, religious, ethnic, sex, political, and national groups. Friendship is also never stagnate in the United States. Most of the time friendships that people have when they are younger will not last into the adolescent years or
We will collaborate with others that share similar interests, ideologies, economic, social and lives. We wish to be surrounded by those who are as driven as we are. By having a friendship that both parties can deeply invest in and benefit off of each other. Friendship within the local or National level are most of the time extremely easy to maintain. People who you are able to have regular contact will be willing to put more into a friendship than friends who are a great distance away.
Friendship on Global level
With the constant growth of the level of communication that people across the world have, the more friendships that are carried over telecommunication lines. It is now extremely common for individuals to have friends across the world. Thanks to social media outlets such as Facebook, Google+, and Twitter, people are able to keep in daily contact with each other. This constant contact can also be seen as troublesome too. Differences in time zones and languages can induce unwanted stress in a relationship, especially at the beginning of a friendship.
Friendships across the world are maintained by indirect contact, but is this good for a friendship. Every friendship needs a form of vested interest in the other person and will gain a stronger bond with each other if they are able to see the other in person. The physical aspect of a friendship is just as important as the communication aspect of a relationship.
A fantastic example of attempts to establish friendships with people abroad or of different cultures, are students who study abroad. They have picked up their entire lives and moved to a completely different country to experience something new. One of the most difficult parts about studying abroad is being able to communicate within your new culture. This is where most people who participate have trouble. Being able to learn how to communicate with a different culture will aid in the person’s ability to gain friendships with locals. The more the student is willing to communicate and learn how to communicate and participate with locals, the more likely they will be able to understand how friendships are formed and maintained in that culture. But even within the general population of students who have studied abroad, there are cases of people being unable to form a connection with their host culture.
In a study done on “Intercultural Friendship: Effects of Home and Host Region”, by Elisabeth Gareis (2012), she points out many of the problems that arose for students were due to their host culture and language being radically different from that of their own. American students who studied in more westernized countries had less of a hassle adapting and gaining friends than that of Americans who studied in Eastern countries, such as China or Japan. The vast difference in language and culture prevented the students from fully integrating and understanding how friendships were established.
"A person with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically one exclusive of sexual or family relations"
So, a friendship is the connection of common communication and a bond between two or more individuals. It can also be defined as a,
"Non-contractual relationship, marked by voluntary interdependence, formed and maintained for the sole purpose of its own existence and preservation."
This “non-contractual relationship” can some times be quite profound and last for many years, or be shallow and only last for a few hours. Through out the development of a friendship, individuals tend to form expectations about how a friend might behave. They expect each other to be available for physical or mental support in times of dire need. Not only will they look to each other for current support, but also support of the future. Friendships that hope to last well into the future will take a lot of care and maintenance. If that is not applied to a friendship, then most likely the friendship will fall apart. It is is really important to establish the fact that if both individuals do not put in an equal share of care and compassion for one another and the relationship, they will slowly drift apart from each other.
There are typically set ways in which a friendship is established. These standards are established by Hall, Larson and Watts, in the Research titled: Satisfying Friendship Maintenance Expectations: The Role of Friendship standards and Biological Sex (2011), in the Ideal Standards Model (ISM). It is a social-cognitive model that seeks to understand how individuals evaluate their romantic relationships. These romantic relationships can range from associates, to best friends and all the way up to life partners. But, this model can also be used to evaluate friendships among people. The standard dimensions in the establishment of the modified ISM, or Friendship Maintenance Standards, are,
1.The association with a friends’ daily expectations and if they have been filled.
2. Weather the daily interaction has positively or negatively influenced the friendship between two individuals. The satisfaction of both individuals of the friendship.
By establishing different results it is possible to rank the amount of friendship that two individuals maintain with each other. It is easy to find that every friendship will be different depending on the amount of time, effort, and ideas that each person puts in. Friendship can also become very complex due to factors such as sexual attraction on one side of the friendship or different social/economic classes. Friendships will also differ on the notion of distance. A relationship where both individuals are able to interact on a daily basis will generate more satisfactory friendship, than one where they barely spend any time together at all. This is why it is extremely beneficial to international friendship, to know more about how other cultures interact. Being able to establish a well formed friendship will hopefully be able to keep a distant friendship alive. Still, to do so will take a lot of effort on both sides of the friendship.
Friendship in the United States (Local & National Level)
Friendship in the American setting is extremely different from that of the rest of the world. We typically see a friend as an “Ally” in our endeavors of life. Typically Americans form friendships with people of similar social, economic, religious, ethnic, sex, political, and national groups. Friendship is also never stagnate in the United States. Most of the time friendships that people have when they are younger will not last into the adolescent years or
We will collaborate with others that share similar interests, ideologies, economic, social and lives. We wish to be surrounded by those who are as driven as we are. By having a friendship that both parties can deeply invest in and benefit off of each other. Friendship within the local or National level are most of the time extremely easy to maintain. People who you are able to have regular contact will be willing to put more into a friendship than friends who are a great distance away.
Friendship on Global level
With the constant growth of the level of communication that people across the world have, the more friendships that are carried over telecommunication lines. It is now extremely common for individuals to have friends across the world. Thanks to social media outlets such as Facebook, Google+, and Twitter, people are able to keep in daily contact with each other. This constant contact can also be seen as troublesome too. Differences in time zones and languages can induce unwanted stress in a relationship, especially at the beginning of a friendship.
Friendships across the world are maintained by indirect contact, but is this good for a friendship. Every friendship needs a form of vested interest in the other person and will gain a stronger bond with each other if they are able to see the other in person. The physical aspect of a friendship is just as important as the communication aspect of a relationship.
A fantastic example of attempts to establish friendships with people abroad or of different cultures, are students who study abroad. They have picked up their entire lives and moved to a completely different country to experience something new. One of the most difficult parts about studying abroad is being able to communicate within your new culture. This is where most people who participate have trouble. Being able to learn how to communicate with a different culture will aid in the person’s ability to gain friendships with locals. The more the student is willing to communicate and learn how to communicate and participate with locals, the more likely they will be able to understand how friendships are formed and maintained in that culture. But even within the general population of students who have studied abroad, there are cases of people being unable to form a connection with their host culture.
In a study done on “Intercultural Friendship: Effects of Home and Host Region”, by Elisabeth Gareis (2012), she points out many of the problems that arose for students were due to their host culture and language being radically different from that of their own. American students who studied in more westernized countries had less of a hassle adapting and gaining friends than that of Americans who studied in Eastern countries, such as China or Japan. The vast difference in language and culture prevented the students from fully integrating and understanding how friendships were established.