SignatureAssignment_InterpersonalConcept (2)

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Signature Assignment: Interpersonal ConceptMitzi GranadosUtah Valley UniversityCOMM2110Marjorie RalphSignature Assignment: Interpersonal Concept INTRODUCTION Relationships are imperative for many reasons such as our emotional well being, stability and in often times they are the glue that holds us together during stressful times but have you ever put a thought on what it takes to develop one? According to Mark Knapp’s Relational model, there are five states through which a relationship goes which are: initiation, experimentation, intensifying, integration and bonding (Floyd, 2017, p. 299) This paper will look deeper into the stages for Initiating and experimenting and apply these stages in two different scenes from the movie “While You Were Sleeping” by Jon Turteltaub. MOVIE “WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING” SUMMARY While You Were Sleeping is a romantic comedy movie about Lucy, a lonely subway worker in Chicago who becomes smitten with a very handsome stranger named Peter Callaghan. One Christmas when she is forced to work, she saves his life after she sees him being pushed off the train platform by robbers and runs to his rescue. After Peter is sent to the hospital and in a coma, his family comes to visit and Lucy is there. The nurse teaks them that she is Peter’s fiancé and that is when the mix- up began. Soon, the mix-ups escalate as Lucy fabricates a life between herself and a man she never met. The family falls in love with Lucy, especially Peter’s brother Jack. When Peter finally wakes up there is confusion and a mix of feeling from every character. INITIATING STAGE The initiating stage takes place when people meet and interact for the very first time (Floyd, 2017, p. 299) This very short stage is all about making an impression. Therefore, people are more concerned with making favorable impressions than to judge the other party (Welch & Rubin, 2002, p. 25) For instance, if a boy finds a girl attractive and want to make a conversation with her, he will introduce him selves with a formal greeting – how are you? What is your name? So I bet you are wondering how is this stage applied in the movie right?Well, as Lucy is leaving the Callaghan’s home, Jack, who is Peter’s brother, the guy in a coma; bumps into Lucy for the first time. Jack tells her that he doesn’t remember meeting her and Lucy in a very sweet way tells Jack that it is probably because they have never met. Lucy’s cab is waiting for her outside so she tells Jack that she has to go but it was nice to meet him.  Jack reached over to Lucy and in a very flirty way and says to her ‘welcome to the family’ (Buenavista Pictures, 1995, figure 4) as Lucy is walking out the door. This is a perfect example of the Initiating stage in Knapp’s theory as Lucy and Jack met for the very first time they both introduce themselves, engage in small talk and made an impression on each other.EXPERIMENTING STAGE Moving on to our second stage, experimentation is all about exploring to get to know each other well. During this stage,  you have conversations to learn more about the person you are engaging with and try to find common grounds. Experimentation is also called The Probing Stage because each person will analyze the other for information or common interest (Avtgis & West, 1998, p. 281)  Individuals at the experimenting stage ask questions such as “What kind of music do you like?” and “What do you do for fun?” to gain basic information about each other. (Floyd, 2017, p. 299)An example of experimentation in the movie While You Were Sleeping is when Jack offers to walk Lucy home since his truck got stuck between two cars as they were dropping off furniture at Peter’s apartment. During the walk back to her home, both Lucy and Jack share a very intimate moment when Lucy shares with Jack that her dad passed away due to a terminal illness, and Jack starts asking all sort of questions like where she grew up and her favorite place to go in the world, etc.This is an excellent example of Knapp’s experimenting process as Lucy is sharing very personal information with Jack and Jack is wanting to know more about Lucy by asking about her upbringing and overall life. CONCLUSION To conclude,  this paper explained the meaning of two stages from Mark Knapp’s five-stage  Relational Model which are initiating and experimenting. These two stages were also applied to two different scenes from the movie While You Were Sleeping. Overall, relationships are hard and Knapp’s stages may or may not play a role in everyone’s relationship.  However, these stages are very helpful in understanding them. It is also worth noting that it depends on each person, the situation and if people are willing to adapt to each other to maintain a relationship.   ReferencesAvtgis, T. A., & West, D. V. (1998). Relationship stages: An inductive analysis identifying cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions of Knapp’s relational stages model. Communication Research Reports, 15, 280-287. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.uvu.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=10&sid=6989a434-fc4d-4ff4-aff8-3e9a2b6cb421%40sdc-v-sessmgr01Buenavista Pictures (Producer). (1995). While you were sleeping [Motion picture]. United States: Hollywood Pictures.Floyd, K. (2017). Interpersonal Communication (3 ed.). AZ: McGraw Hill.Welch, S., & Rubin, R. B. (2002). Development of relationship stage measures. Communication Quartely, 50, 24-40. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.uvu.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=38&sid=6989a434-fc4d-4ff4-aff8-3e9a2b6cb421%40sdc-v-sessmgr01