Experiences And Observations Of Friendships

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Experiences and Observations of Friendships Friendship is the state of being a friend; association as friends: to value a person's friendship. It is a friendly relation or intimacy, friendly feeling or disposition. Friendship is a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard, a person who gives assistance; patron; supporter: friends of the Boston Symphony. Friendship is also a person who is on good terms with another; a person who is not hostile: Who goes there, Friend or foe? Friendship is a form of interpersonal relationship generally considered to be downer than association, although there is a range of degrees of intimacy in both friendships and associations. Friendship and association can be thought of as spanning across the same continuum. The study of friendship is included in the fields of sociology, social psychology, anthropology, philosophy, and zoology. Various academic theories of friendship have been proposed, among which are social exchange theory, equity theory, relational dialectics, and attachment styles. Value that is found in friendships is often the result of a friend demonstrating the following on a consistent basis: The tendency to desire what is best for the other; sympathy, empathy, honesty (perhaps in situations where it may be difficult for others to speak the truth, especially in terms of pointing out the perceived faults of one's counterpart), mutual understanding and compassion. Trust in one another, the ability to express feelings (including in relations to the other's actions without the fear of being judged); able to go to each other for emotional support. Positive reciprocity - a relationship is based on equal give and take between the two parties. In the span of my lifetime I have had many friends, and with each friendship there were different factors that drew us together. When I was really

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