Creating and maintaining healthy relationships takes time and work, but they are necessary from birth until death. Describe each of the three fundamentals that encourage interpersonal relationship bonding and their corresponding theories

What will be an ideal response?

Answer: Sample student response:

Belongingness—Maslow classifies the need to belong, to be loved, and to be close to others is especially important. The belongingness theory states that humans have a strong fundamental motivation (not a want) for closeness and social belongingness. The desire to belong is innate and, therefore, universal; influences a broad range of behaviors.

Reward—the premise of the social exchange theory states that when you put time and effort into something, you generally want something of equal or better quality in return (cost-rewards). Equity theory suggests that relational partners must both feel that the rewards and costs are balanced.

Attraction—this fundamental includes the attraction theory that suggests you are drawn to another person for particular reasons. The four elements that bolster attraction are: proximity (nearness—increased exposure you have to others), similarity (the likeness, resemblance, and identification with others), complementarity (state or quality of being complementary or balanced opposites), and attractiveness (personal appearance and personality).