Mark Knapp's Stages Of Relational Development

Everyone has had that a disastrous romantic relationship right? Either you and your boyfriend/girlfriend can’t decide to get alone, and you always break up. These type of relationships are modeled after Knapp’s Stages of Relational Development. This relationship theory was created by Mark Knapp. Knapp was a well known professor at the University of Texas. Knapp’s Stages of Relational Development shows how relationships grow and eventually fail. There are ten stages in total. I will explain these ten types of relationships while giving examples from one of my own relationships. The relationship I will be talking about is the relationship between me and my ex. Our relationship lasted for around 5 years on and off. Currently we aren’t together, …show more content…
During this stage, you actually get to know the person that your trying to have a relationship with. This is like asking them questions, like what are your favorite thing and what do you like. During this time, me and Jason and I usually talked about our favorite foods. I don’t know why we talked about food a lot, but that was one of the things that we had in common. During this time, I also learned about where he lived in the past, what schools he went to and even personal things like his middle name. He also learned things about me like what was my favorite movies and …show more content…
During this stage you get to know the other person in your relationship better. This step occurred during my freshman year of high school. Jason and I went to same high school together and we had science class together again. We were talking and one day he asked if he could have my number. I didn’t think anything of it because I saw him as a friend so we exchanged numbers. Late on that night we talked and he asked me out. I wanted to say no, but I didn’t think it would hurt, because I knew him as a nice and interesting person. So that particular day on November 11, 2011 we started dating.
The next stage is Bonding. During this time your relationship will go public. Your friendship or romantic relationship will start to become formal. At the beginning of our relationship our we decided to keep it private. We told each other that we wouldn’t tell anyone, but behind each others backs we told our best friends. This eventually led to the whole school knowing that we were dating. Everyone used to tease us because it was very unexpected. We didn’t have many things in common. This was the highest part of our relationship. I was happy. He was