Describe the person you chose to interview and why you selected that person.

Understanding Relationships: Coming Together, Coming Apart Unit Assignment # 1 – CMS 100 To coincide with our unit on Interpersonal Communication (Chapters 8, 9, & 10) you are asked to choose ONE of the following assessment activities to complete. Worth up to 50 points, this assignment is designed for you to apply information from the textbook to your own real-life experiences as well as to reflect on how communication functions in such relationships. Please remember that what you write is confidential…no one reads these but me, so feel free to be completely honest and as open as you feel comfortable being as you write. Refer to the course calendar for the submission due date/time. The submission link for this paper can be found in M6. I am expecting 3-4, double-spaced (typed pages, one inch margins all around, 12 point Times New Roman font). I will grade based on the content of your paper and your use/abuse of the English language as well!! Remember, you can schedule a consultation with the Noel Studio if you need help with writing or revising this paper. OPTION 1: Based on information from our reading on interpersonal communication in the textbook, conduct an interview with someone who has been in an intimate relationship (like a marriage) with another person for at least two years. (The person CANNOT be YOUR significant other or yourself.) This person can be one of your parents, a relative, or a close friend…it just needs to be someone who would feel very comfortable talking to you about his/her relationships. Using the information on pages 231-232, explain the phases of relational escalation to this person. Make sure your interviewee understands the concepts. As you explain, ask them about his/her relationship with his/her significant other. What specific behaviors characterized each stage? What happened to move the relationship to the next level? What was the time period for each stage? Does your interviewee agree with the stages? If so, how does their relationship differentiate between one stage and the next? OR, INSTEAD of OPTION 1, YOU CAN CHOOSE TO DO OPTION 2… OPTION 2: Select a person who has de-escalated a relationship. Again, make sure you choose someone who is comfortable enough to talk to you about this relationship…a parent, a close friend, a relative. (The person CANNOT be YOUR significant other or yourself.) This relationship could have ended in divorce, or it could represent the end of a long-term relationship of some kind. Using the info on pages 233-237, describe the phases of relational de-escalation to your interviewee. What behaviors characterized each stage? What happened in the relationship to move it down each level? How much time did each stage take? Etc… AFTER COMPLETING either OPTION 1 OR OPTION 2, write about the following:

1. Describe the person you chose to interview and why you selected that person.

2. Describe the relationship of that person to their significant other. If you can, describe the significant other as well. 3. What was the most difficult part of relational development for you to explain? What was the most difficult part of relational development for them to understand?