Friendship

Friendship begins as a relationship of social exchange. Exchange relationships
involve giving and returning favors and other resources, with a shortterm
emphasis on maintaining fairness or equity. For example, early in a relationship,
if one person does a favor for a friend, the friend returns it in
kind. Over time, close friendships involve shifting away from an exchange
basis to a communal basis. In a communal relationship, partners see their
friendship as a common investment and contribute to it for their mutual
benefit. For example, if one person gives a gift to a good friend, he or she
does not expect repayment in kind. The gift represents an investment in
their long-term friendship, rather than a short-term exchange.
Friendship also depends on intimate communication. Friends engage in
self-disclosure and reveal personal information to each other. In the early
stages of friendship, this is immediately reciprocated: One person’s revelation
or confidence is exchanged for the other’s. As friendship develops, immediate
reciprocity is not necessary; long-term relationships involve expectations
of future responses. According to psychologist Robert Sternberg,
friendship is characterized by two experiences: intimacy and commitment.
Friends confide in each other, trust each other, and maintain their friendship
through investment and effort.