Outline of relationships

An interpersonal relationship is an association between two or more people that may range from fleeting to enduring. This association may be based on limerence, love, solidarity, regular business interactions, or some other type of social commitment. Interpersonal relationships are formed in the context of social, cultural and other influences. The context can vary from family or kinship relations, friendship, marriage, relations with associates, work, clubs, neighborhoods, and places of worship. They may be regulated by law, custom, or mutual agreement, and are the basis of social groups and society as a whole.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to interpersonal relationships:

Essence of relationships

Main article: Interpersonal relationship

• Social relations – relationship between two (i.e. a dyad), three (i.e. a triad) or more individuals, that is, members of a social group). Social relations, derived from individual agency, form the basis of social structure.
• Social actions – acts which take into account the actions and reactions of individuals (or 'agents'). According to Max Weber, "an Action is 'social' if the acting individual takes account of the behavior of others and is thereby oriented in its course" (Secher 1962).

Types of relationships

• Casual relationship –

Membership in a social group

Main article: Social group

A social group consists of two or more humans who interact with one another, share similar characteristics and collectively have a sense of unity. By this definition, a society can be viewed as a large group, though most social groups are considerably smaller.

• Dyad – group of two people. "Dyadic" is an adjective used to describe this type of communication/interaction. A dyad is the smallest possible social group.
• Triad – group of three people. Less stable than dyads because two will tend to unite against the other one.

Family membership

A table of relationships displays the relationships amongst relatives.

Family –

• Household –
• Nuclear family (immediate family) –
  • Spouse –
    • Husband –
    • Wife –
  • Parent –
    • Father –
    • Mother –
  • Child –
    • Son –
    • Daughter –
  • Sibling –
    • Brother –
    • Sister –
• Extended family –
  • Grandparent –
  • Uncle –
  • Aunt –
  • Cousin –
  • Nephew –
  • Niece –
• Family-in-law –
  • Father-in-law –
  • Mother-in-law –
  • Brother-in-law –
  • Sister-in-law –
• Complex family –
• Stepfamily –
• Dysfunctional family –
• Kinship –
  • Consanguinity –
  • Affinity –
  • Fictive kinship –
  • Marriage –
  • Adoption –
  • Divorce –
  • Disownment –

Peer group membership

Main article: Peer group

• Special interest group –

Organization membership

An organization is a social group which distributes tasks for a collective goal. There are a variety of legal types of organizations, including:

• Corporations –
• Governments –
• Non-governmental organizations –
• International organizations –
• Armed forces –
• Charities –
• Not-for-profit corporations –
• Partnerships –
• Cooperatives –
• universitiess –

Community membership

Main article: Community

• Citizenship – membership in a country or nation.
• Neighbor – member of a neighborhood.
• Member of society – a society is a body of individuals outlined by the bounds of functional interdependence, possibly comprising characteristics such as national or cultural identity, social solidarity, language, or hierarchical organization.

Intimate relationships

Main article: Intimate relationship

• Cohabitation –
• Committed relationship – interpersonal relationship based upon a mutually agreed-upon commitment to one another involving exclusivity, honesty, openness, or some other agreed-upon behavior. The term is most commonly used with informal relationships, such as "going steady," but may encompass any relationship where an expressed commitment is involved.
  • Close friendship –
  • Courtship –
  • Long-term relationship (LTR) –
    • Monogamy – having a single long-term sexual partner.
    • Polygamy – having multiple long-term sexual partners.
    • Polyandry – having multiple long-term male sexual partners.
    • Polygyny – having multiple long-term female sexual partners.
  • Engagement –
  • Marriage –
    • Marriage partners –
      • Husband –
      • Wife –
    • Types of marriage –
      • Arranged marriage –
      • Forced marriage –
      • Cousin marriage –
      • Open marriage –
  • Civil union –
• Domestic partnership –
  • Boyfriend –
  • Girlfriend–
• Familial relationship – relationship between members of a family. Family members tend to form close personal relationships. See family section above.
• Friendship –
• Extramarital affair –
• Polyamorous relationship –
  • Non-monogamy –
  • Polygamous relationship – having multiple long-term sexual partners.
  • Polyandry – having multiple long-term male sexual partners.
  • Polygyny – having multiple long-term female sexual partners.
  • Polyfidelity –
  • Polyandry –
  • Polygynandry –
  • Polygyny –
• Romantic friendship –
• Same-sex relationship –
• Soulmate –
• Significant other –
• Sexual partner –

Professional relationships

• Employer-worker relationship –

Relations (relationship activities)

• Human bonding –
• Conflict resolution –
• Interpersonal communication –
• Social rejection –
• Christian relational care – religious approach of relating to those who are poor, marginalized, or considered to be outcasts from mainstream society.
• Wedding –

Intimate relationship formation

Main article: Mating

Human mating is the process whereby an individual seeks out another individual with the intention of forming a long-term intimate relationship or marriage, but sometimes for casual relationship or friendship.

• Personal advertisement –
• Meet market –
• Flirting –
  • Pick-up line –
• Singles event –
• Courtship –
  • Dating –
    • Internet dating –
    • Going Dutch –
• Endogamy – the practice of marrying within a specific ethnic group, class, or social group, rejecting all others.
• Hypergamy – act or practice of seeking a spouse of higher socioeconomic status, or caste status than oneself.

Sexual relations

• Human sexual activity –
  • Sexual intercourse –
  • Swinging –

Dysfunctional relations

• Dysfunctional family –
• Relational transgression – violation of implicit or explicit relational rules.

Abusive relations

Main article: Abuse

• Child abuse –
• Elder abuse –
• Dating abuse –
• Domestic violence –
• Infidelity – breach of the expectation of sexual exclusivity. Also called "cheating".
  • Extramarital affair –
    • Adultery –
    • Extramarital sex –
• Nagging –
• Spousal abuse –

End of a relationship

• Breaking up –
• Divorce –
• Legal separation –
• Widowhood –

Reasons for ending a relationship

• Dysfunctional relations – see Dysfunctional relations section above.
• Irreconcilable differences –

Theories of interpersonal relations

• Socionics – theory of intertype relations incorporating Carl Jung's work on personality types with Antoni Kępiński's theory of information metabolism.
• Attachment theory – describes the dynamics of long-term relationships between humans. Its most important tenet is that an infant needs to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for social and emotional development to occur normally.

Relationship characteristics

Aspects of relationships include:

• Attachment in adults –
• Attachment in children –
• Interpersonal attraction – force acting between two people that tends to draw them together and resist their separation, which leads to friendships and romantic relationships. It is distinct from physical attraction.
• New relationship energy (NRE) – state of mind experienced at the beginning of most significant sexual and romantic relationships, typically involving heightened emotional and sexual receptivity and excitement. It begins with the earliest attractions, grows into full force when mutuality is established, and slowly fades over months to years.

Stages of a relationship

• Stages presented in George Levinger's relationship model:
  1. Acquaintance
  2. Buildup
  3. Continuation
  4. Deterioration
  5. Termination

Feelings and emotions

• Love
  • Familial love –
  • Parental love –
  • Marital love –
  • Brotherly love –
  • Filial piety –
  • Veneration –
• Romance –

• Compersion –
• Intimacy –
• Jealousy –
• Limerence –
• Passion –
• Platonic love –
• Psychology of sexual monogamy –
• Unconditional love –

Sexual orientation

• Bisexual –
• Heterosexual –
• Homosexual –

Relationship partners

Terms for partners in intimate relationships include:

• Boyfriend/Girlfriend
• Confidant or confidante
• Family member
• Friend
• Life partner/Partner
• Spouse
• Mistress
• Significant other
• Companion

Relationship management

• Bride price –
  • Dower –
  • Dowry –
• Brideservice –
• Love contract –

Relationship intervention

• Family therapy –
• Relationship counseling –

Lacking an interpersonal relationship

• Spinster –
• Celibate –

External links

• "What are friends for?" - three-part article in UK Guardian newspaper