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Close Encounters
Communication in Relationships

Sixth Edition


January 2020 | 664 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
Close Encounters: Communication in Relationships helps students learn about their own relationships with romantic partners, friends, and family members by focusing on issues that are central to describing and understanding close relationships. Best-selling authors Laura K. Guerrero, Peter A. Andersen, and Walid A. Afifi present research-based insights and content illustrated with engaging scenarios to show how state-of-the-art research and theory can be applied to specific issues within relationships. The updated Sixth Edition includes fresh content reflecting current research and trends in relationships, balanced with coverage of classic research, and continues to empower readers to be more critical consumers of information about relationships.

 
Preface
 
Acknowledgments
 
Chapter 1 • Conceptualizing Relational Communication: Definitions and Principles
The Field of Personal Relationships: A Brief History

 
Relationships

 
Principles of Interpersonal Communication

 
Principles of Relational Communication

 
Summary and Application

 
Key Terms

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 2 • Communicating Identity: The Social Self
The Development of Personal Identity

 
Principles of Identity Management

 
Communicating Identity to Others

 
Summary and Application

 
Key Terms

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 3 • Drawing People Together: Forces of Social Attraction
Attraction

 
A Framework for Understanding Attraction

 
Personal Qualities

 
Other People’s Qualities

 
Qualities of the Pair

 
Qualities of the Physical or Social Environment

 
Summary and Application

 
Key Terms

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 4 • Making Sense of Our World: Managing Uncertainty and Expectancy Violations
What Is Uncertainty?

 
Uncertainty Reduction Theory

 
Secret Tests

 
Predicted Outcome Value Theory

 
The Theory of Motivated Information Management

 
Relational Turbulence Theory

 
Expectancy Violations

 
Summary and Application

 
Key Terms

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 5 • Changing Relationships: Stages, Turning Points, and Dialectics
Communication Skills

 
Relationship Stages

 
Turning Points

 
Relational Dialectics

 
Summary and Application

 
Key Terms

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 6 • Revealing and Hiding Ourselves: Self-Disclosure and Privacy
Self-Disclosure

 
Privacy

 
Topic Avoidance and Secret Keeping

 
Summary and Application

 
Key Terms

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 7 • Communicating Closeness: Affection, Immediacy, and Social Support
Closeness in Relationships

 
Affectionate Communication

 
Immediacy Behavior

 
Cognitive Valence Theory

 
Supportive Communication

 
Sex Differences in the Experience and Expression of Closeness

 
Summary and Application

 
Key Terms

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 8 • Making a Love Connection: Styles of Love and Attachment
What Is Love?

 
Love Styles

 
Attachment Theory

 
Summary and Application

 
Key Terms

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 9 • Communicating Sexually: The Closest Physical Encounter
Sexual Attitudes

 
Casual Sex

 
Sex in Relationships

 
Communication About Sex

 
Safe Sex

 
Summary and Application

 
Key Terms

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 10 • Staying Close: Maintaining Relationships
Defining Relational Maintenance

 
Behaviors Used to Maintain Relationships

 
Maintenance Behavior in Romantic Relationships

 
Maintenance Behavior in Same-Sex Friendships

 
Maintenance Behavior in Cross-Sex Friendships

 
Maintenance Challenges in Other Relationships

 
Equity Theory

 
Summary and Application

 
Key Terms

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 11 • Coping With Conflict: When Relational Partners Disagree
Conflict in Relationships

 
Conflict Styles

 
Patterns of Conflict Interaction

 
Attributions During Conflict

 
Communication Skill Deficits

 
Summary and Application

 
Key Terms

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 12 • Influencing Each Other: Dominance and Power Plays in Relationships
Defining Power and Related Terms

 
Power Principles

 
Interpersonal Influence Goals

 
Verbal Power Ploys

 
Nonverbal Positions of Power

 
Traditional Versus Egalitarian Marriages

 
Culture, Equality, and Power

 
Summary and Application

 
Key Terms

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 13 • Hurting the Ones We Love: Relational Transgressions
Hurt Feelings in Relationships

 
Deception

 
Infidelity

 
Jealousy

 
Unrequited Love

 
Obsessive Relational Intrusion

 
Relational Violence

 
Summary and Application

 
Key Terms

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 14 • Healing the Hurt: Relationship Repair and Reconciliation
The Investment Model of Relationship-Maintaining Behavior

 
The Model of Accommodation

 
Remedial Strategies

 
Forgiveness

 
Relational Reconciliation

 
On-Again Off-Again Relationships

 
Relational Redefinition: Can We Still Be Friends?

 
Summary and Application

 
Key Terms

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 15 • Ending Relationships: Disengagement and Termination
Why Relationships End

 
Communication as a Cause of Breakups

 
The Disengagement Process

 
The Many Ways to Leave Your Partner

 
The Bad and the Good of Relationship Endings

 
Summary and Application

 
Key Terms

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Glossary
 
References
 
Author Index
 
Subject Index
 
About the Authors

Supplements

Instructor Resource Site

The password-protected instructor site includes:

  • Test banks
  • Editable chapter-specific PowerPoint® slides
  • Sample Course Syllabi
  • Lecture Notes
  • Discussion Questions
  • All tables and figures from the textbook 
For additional information, custom options, or to request a personalized walkthrough of these resources, please contact your sales representative.
Student Study Site

edge.sagepub.com/guerrero6e

 

The open-access Student Study Site makes it easy for students to maximize their study time, anywhere, anytime. It offers flashcards that strengthen understanding of key terms and concepts, as well as learning objectives that reinforce the most important material.

Close Encounters is a great text for undergraduate students. The authors manage to balance breadth and depth; the book presents a variety of interpersonal topics and each topic is explored thoroughly, with relevant, up-to-date research.”

Christine K. Anzur
East Tennessee State University

Close Encounters is a text that makes heavy theories easy to grasp yet pushes our students to greater lengths of critical examination of their interpersonal relationships.”

Anasheh Gharabighi
Moorpark College

“This book is an excellent resource for any learner interested in knowing more about the research, theories, and ideas studied by interpersonal communication scholars. Not only can students develop a solid foundation about the field from this text, but they can frequently refer back as they deepen their understanding.”

Carrie D. Kennedy-Lightsey
Stephen F. Austin State University

“This text engages relationship research and theorizing to illuminate the complex experiences embedded in close relationships.”

Colleen Warner Colaner
University of Missouri

Close Encounters is a solid, well-written, and well-organized textbook for interpersonal communication.”

Zuoming Wang
University of North Texas
Key features
NEW TO THIS EDITION:
  • New and updated content: Reflecting current research and trends in relationships, content includes research on the college hookup culture, re-vamped discussion of breakups that includes strategies commonly used today such as ghosting, and a new discussion about diversity.
  • Infographics: These boxes present information visually in graphs so students can see trends, sex differences, or rankings of categories in a memorable way.
  • Discussion Board Questions: These questions found at the end of each chapter facilitate online or classroom discussions.

KEY FEATURES:

  • Current, interdisciplinary research: Research reflects the interdisciplinary nature of the study of personal relationships and draws from across the social science disciplines while maintaining a focus on communication. 
  • High-interest topics: Intriguing subjects, such as long-distance relationships, cross-sex friendships, friends with benefits, flirting, sexual interaction, cohabitation, breakups, and the “dark side” of relational communication are explored in depth.
  • Put Yourself to the Test boxes: These exercises found throughout the book assess various aspects of students’ own relationships and communication styles.
  • Highlights boxes: These boxes highlight some of the main ideas in the text by summarizing or expanding upon key issues in relationship research. 
  • Tech Talk boxes: These boxes take an in-depth look at specific research issues related to technology and social media in relationships such as cell phones, social networking sites, and online dating sites.

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