Ipa Of Friendship

4670 Words19 Pages
Abstract There are many different interpersonal relationships one can engage in, of these friendship is the most important as it plays a vital role in shaping our lives. Friendship can be defined as a voluntary, reciprocal relationship with strong positive affective connections which can help achieve personal goals. It can be argued within westernised societies there are common expectations within a friendship such as loyalty, respect, support and reciprocity. This study is concerned with the way friendship is experienced in contemporary Britain. An experiential account from a single case study has been used, based on secondary data from a semi-structured interview. The qualitative method of interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used with an ideographic focus to identify themes and then organise these into clusters. IPA is still a recently developed research method, its expansion could lead to valuable insights into the effects quality of friendship can have on the social development of an individual. Introduction There are a myriad of interpersonal relationships an individual can engage in; work relationships, intimate relationships, or friendships. All these relationships are at the heart of our existence and play a vital role in shaping our lives (Berscheid and Peplau, 2002). Currently the science behind relationships is being increasingly investigated due to a need to understand them. Psychology plays a key role in this development with developmental psychology, helping to explain the impact relationships have on growth and development. Friendship has been present throughout history and the definition of friendship differs across societies and cultures (Keller, 2004). In Western societies friendship can be defined as a voluntary, reciprocal relationship with strong positive affective connections which help the achievement of personal or social
Open Document