Communicating Affection: Interpersonal Behavior and Social Context (Advances in Personal Relationships)

236 Pages·2006·0.59 MB·English

by  Kory Floyd

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Advances in Personal Relationships
CommunicatingAffection
Few behavioral processes are more central to the development
and maintenance of intimate relationships than the communi-
cation of affection. Indeed, affectionate expressions often ini-
tiate and accelerate relational development. By contrast, their
absence in established relationships frequently coincides with
relationaldeterioration.Thistextexploresthescientificresearch
on affection exchange to emerge from the disciplines of com-
munication,socialpsychology,familystudies,psychophysiology,
anthropology, and nursing. Specific foci include the individual
andrelationalbenefits(includinghealthbenefits)ofaffection-
atebehavior,aswellasthesignificantrisksoftenassociatedwith
expressing affection. A new, comprehensive theory of human
affection exchange is offered, and its merits relative to existing
theoriesareexplored.
Kory Floyd is associate professor and director of graduate M.A.
studies in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication
atArizonaStateUniversity.HeholdsaPh.D.incommunication
fromtheUniversityofArizona(1998),anM.A.inspeechcommu-
nicationfromtheUniversityofWashington(1994),andaB.A.in
English literature from Western Washington University (1991).
Hehasauthoredorcoauthoredfourotherbooksandmorethan
60journalarticlesandbookchaptersontopicsrelatedtoaffec-
tionatecommunication,nonverbalbehavior,andfamilyrelation-
ships.Inaddition,heiscurrentlyeditorofJournalofFamilyCom-
munication and has been an associate editor of Journal of Social
andPersonalRelationships.Hehasearnedanumberofawardsfor
hisresearch,includingtheNewScholaroftheYearawardfrom
theInternationalNetworkonPersonalRelationships.
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Advances in Personal Relationships
SeriesEditors:
HarryT.Reis,UniversityofRochester
MaryAnneFitzpatrick,UniversityofWisconsin-Madison
AnitaL.Vangelisti,UniversityofTexas,Austin
Althoughscholarsfromavarietyofdisciplineshavewrittenandconversedabout
theimportanceofpersonalrelationshipsfordecades,theemergenceofpersonal
relationshipsasafieldofstudyisrelativelyrecent.AdvancesinPersonalRelationships
represents the culmination of years of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary
workonpersonalrelationships.SponsoredbytheInternationalAssociationfor
RelationshipResearch,theseriesoffersreaderscutting-edgeresearchandtheo-
ryinthefield.Contributingauthorsareinternationallyknownscholarsfroma
varietyofdisciplines,includingsocialpsychology,clinicalpsychology,communi-
cation,history,sociology,gerontology,andfamilystudies.Volumesincludeinte-
grativereviews,conceptualpieces,summariesofresearchprograms,andmajor
theoreticalworks.AdvancesinPersonalRelationshipspresentsfirst-ratescholarship
thatisbothprovocativeandtheoreticallygrounded.Thetheoreticalandempiri-
cal work described by authors will stimulate readers and advance the field by
offering up new ideas and retooling old ones. The series will be of interest to
upperdivisionundergraduatestudents,graduatestudents,researchers,andprac-
titioners.
Attribution,CommunicationBehavior,andCloseRelationships
ValerieManusovandJohnH.Harvey
StabilityandChangeinRelationships
AnitaL.Vangelisti,HarryT.Reis,andMaryAnneFitzpatrick
UnderstandingMarriage:DevelopmentsintheStudyofCoupleInteraction
PatriciaNollerandJudithA.Feeney
GrowingTogether:PersonalRelationshipsAcrosstheLifespan
FriederR.LangandKarenL.Fingerman
CommunicatingSocialSupport
DaenaGoldsmith
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Communicating Affection
Interpersonal Behavior and Social Context
KORY FLOYD
ArizonaStateUniversity
v
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cambridgeuniversitypress
Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,Singapore,Sa˜oPaulo
CambridgeUniversityPress
40West20thStreet,NewYork,NY10011-4211,USA
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521832052
(cid:1)c CambridgeUniversityPress2006
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithout
thewrittenpermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2006
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Floyd,Kory.
Communicatingaffection:interpersonalbehaviorandsocialcontext/
KoryFloyd.–1sted.
p. cm.–(Advancesinpersonalrelationships)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindexes.
ISBN0-521-83205-5(hardcover)
1.Interpersonalrelations. 2.Interpersonalcommunication. 3.Love.
I.Title. II.Advancesinpersonalrelationships(Cambridge,England)
HM1106.F56 2006
(cid:2)
302.34–dc22 2005023097
ISBN-13 978-0-521-83205-2hardback
ISBN-10 0-521-83205-5hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityfor
thepersistenceoraccuracyofURLsforexternalor
third-partyInternetWebsitesreferredtointhispublication
anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuch
Websitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
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ThisbookisdedicatedtomyMaster’sdegreeadvisor,
MacParks.
Forturningmeontocommunicationresearch,
forteachingmethevalueofagoodidea,
andforbeingthekindofmentorthatImyselfstrivetobe,
Iwillalwaysbemostgrateful.
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Contents
ListofTables page xi
ListofFigures xii
Foreword xiii
1 AnIntroductiontoAffectionateCommunication 1
AffectionandAffectionateCommunication 3
APreviewoftheChapters 6
2 Thinking about Affection: The Theories 9
BioevolutionaryParadigm 10
SocioculturalParadigm 18
OntheStatusofAffectionateCommunicationTheory 25
3 Encoding Affectionate Messages 28
ATripartiteModelforEncodingAffectionateMessages 28
IdiomaticExpressionsofAffection 36
InfluencesonAffectionateCommunication 38
4 Decoding and Responding to Affectionate
Expressions 51
DecodingBehaviorsasAffectionate 51
RespondingtoExpressionsofAffection 59
5 Benefits of Expressing and Receiving Affection 87
DescribingtheBenefitsofAffectionateCommunication 88
AttributionsfortheBenefitsofAffectionateCommunication 96
6 Risks Associated with Affectionate
Communication 121
RisksforSendersofAffectionateMessages 122
PotentialProblemsforReceiversofAffectionateExpressions 128
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x contents
7 A New Theoretic Approach 140
OntheSufficiencyofExistingTheoriesRelatedtoAffectionate
Communication 141
PrefacestoaNeo-DarwinianTheory
ofAffectionateCommunication 153
ATheoryonHumanAffectionateCommunication 159
8 Affectionate Communication in Human
Interaction 185
SomeQualifiedConclusionsaboutAffectionate
Communication 186
Afterthoughts 193
References 195
Index 217