Apparently, high quality friendship between two or more people is on the whole characterized by intimacy, pro-social behaviour, and the corresponding low levels of negative features that include conflicts ad rivalry (Saracho and Bernard 269). Arguably, forming a friendship bond entails a process. This process in essence cultivates friendship qualities such as loyalty, trust, and honesty that will fundamentally act as the pillars of the friendship bond. By focusing on the process of friendship formation, this paper will present stages under which two or more people undergo prior to forming high-quality friendship.
At the onset, two people who will subsequently form friendship begin at the first stage of curiosity. At this stage, the two individuals forming friendship get attracted to each other, because; each of them has explicit quality or rather qualities. That in essence increases the desire of each to get in the company of the other. At this stage, none of the two individuals perceived to form a friendship consequently is aware of the attraction that is gradually taking course. Fundamentally, this is of essence ion friendship formation because it creates a platform where the two people involved can intermingle.
After the two people perceived to form a friendship have interacted at the first stage, the second stage which is the exploratory stage takes course. Apparently, the formation of the friendship bond requires that the two people have an adequate amount of time together. Ata this stage, it is essential that the two people aspiring to become friends have a quality time together, for instance in choir rehearsals, work, yoga, watching football movies, etc. Spending time together is of the essence in friendship formation because friends at this stage will effectively acquit or rather make the two people understand each other more. It is imperative to note that this stage should be initiated and pursued by the two people.
Succeeding the exploratory stage during friendship formation is the familiarity stage. Apparently, this is the most important stage of all the another stages. The above is true essentially because familiarity gives one the comfort of spending time with each other. Though people aspire to feel the comfort of familiarity at the onset. It is imperative to make apparent the fact that familiarity is a stage that subsequent many other stages, owing its significance to the friendship bond. Based on research findings, this stage takes approximately 6-8 meeting times in women particularly before the two friends accomplish it (Fehr 187). This stage offers a platform where two friends understand how his or her friends respond to the various life events and situations.
The fourth stage in friendship formation is the vulnerability stage. Technically, this stage is the stage where two friends can share their emotional feelings, in essence two friends at the stage can cry on each other’s shoulders, and takes sides in favour of each other. Apparently, this stage is where friends bond in more profound and deeper ways now that the friendship has become more like a commitment.
The last stage of friendship formation is the intimacy. This stage by definition is the stage where two people portray implicit trust not only between themselves, but also to those around them. This stage is where two people have proven beyond reasonable doubt that they are emotionally healthy people who can go extra miles for their mutual benefits. The two also trust each other’s boundaries.
In a nutshell, it is of the essence to note that friendship formation is a very critical and vulnerable process that fundamentally requires an explicit commitment of the two people. For two people to form strong bonds, it is imperative for the two to undergo the curiosity, exploratory, familiarity, vulnerability, and finally the intimacy stage.
Works Cited
Fehr, Beverley A. Friendship Processes. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2006. Print.
Saracho, Olivia N, and Bernard Spodek. Contemporary Perspectives on Social Learning in
Early Childhood Education. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Pub, 2007. Print.
