Lesson 28: Love, Intimacy, Puzzle Pieces Attention
Learning Outcomes Upon completion of this lesson's material, students will be able to:
Teaching Adult Relationships According to Erikson, this stage of life (Stage 6) has to do with Intimacy (vs. Isolation). As much as we may think about intimacy in terms of a romantic relationship, intimacy can happen with many people. Friendships Adult friendships tend to have the following:
We pick our friends based on the available people around us and based on our interests. Sometimes friends grow from our "gang" when we were teens (remember the importance of friends that was discussed earlier in the textbook). One thing that I have observed is that men's relationships tend to be based on activity (job, hobbies, sports, games) and represent individuals that they can DO things with. Women, on the other hand, have relationships based more on intimate sharing and "problem talk" (basically, talking about personal problems and issues that they may share). When we deal with cross-sex relationships (friends or otherwise) we can sometimes see a conflict between the men who want to DO something with their female friends while those same friends want to TALK with their male counterparts! Love Relationships One of the best models out there to explain love is by Robert Sternberg...his "Triangular Theory of Love" Sternberg supported the notion that there are three elements to love:
This chart reveals the different kinds of friendships and love relationships that result when different elements are present. This theory is a basic underpinning of my work with Puzzle Pieces Puzzle Pieces Click HERE for an overview of my Puzzle Pieces model for understanding the development of relationships. Understand that this has not been empirically tested...that is still to come...but I feel it makes for great discussion on the ways in which relationships start and develop over time. Assessment
Lesson 28 Discussion In this discussion I would like each of you to reflect on the interplay of identity (the person you were and the person you are becoming) and intimacy (personal relationships with friends and lovers over the years). How do these two concepts interact with one another? How well do you think the Puzzle Pieces theory/model integrates these ideas?
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