Communicating Closeness In The Sitcoms Full House

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Communicating closeness is one concept that we will be analyzing in the sitcom Full House. Within this concept we will see how communicating closeness helps to unite a family. According to the book Close Encounters, “communication is what helps foster and sustain closeness in relationships” (Guerrero, Anderson, Affi, 159). In other words communication closeness is a necessity to the growth and definition of a relationship, without closeness relationships will not survive. When we talk about closeness our definition can vary from physical, emotional and relational closeness. Physical closeness is the amount of space you give someone. For example, spending time with someone can convey physical closeness because you are physically near them. Emotional …show more content…

Dr. Horan is a professor at Texas State University who studies communication in dating relationships. Dr. Horan has conducted experiments that proves that affection can benefit the psychological aspect of a relationship. Another source by Michelle Miller –Day relates communication closeness to families and its function. In a typical family you get a sense of interdependence and wholeness, just like something you would find in affectionate communication. This system helps to maintain stability in the family. In this family perspective families often maintain communication closeness by the use of family rules and rituals. This source says, “It is within this system that families communicatively navigate cohesion and adaptability; create family images, themes, stories, rituals, rules, and roles; manage power, intimacy, and boundaries; and participate in an interactive process of meaning-making, producing mental models of family life that endure over time and across generations” (“Communication” Oxford Research Encyclopedias …show more content…

In the text it says, “Achieving a shared reality (agreement, accuracy, and congruence in beliefs and attitudes) increases the chance that family members will understand and be understood by one another, leading to more efficient interactions and fewer disagreements and conflicts” (“Associations between Family Communication Patterns, Sibling Closeness, and Adoptive Status” 2012). The author used this theory to prove that it can be impossible to have communicating closeness if the communication patterns are not established. Without understanding someone it can eventually lead to disagreements and conflict. This author also uses the two methods called “orientations” which are conversation and conformity that influences families to share experiences and thoughts. The use of disclosure definitely helps keep the emotional closeness among families or any relationship in general. When we discuss affectionate communication and how it relates to communication closeness we realize that it also provides emotional closeness. Affectionate communication whether expressed verbally or nonverbally it still conveys the same

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