Why Is It Important To Prune A Friendship?

High school is a ripe time to discover yourself but also to form connections with your peers. The initial sparks of conversation could lead to the beginning stages of a friendship, and in the long run, it may last a lifetime and be a rewarding experience for every member participating in the mutuality. Friendships help shape each other’s thoughts and conduct and provide a good basis for future relationships. In this context, defining friendship as the sharing of the same interests and values between two or more people seems appropriate. What should be done when these shared interests are no longer relevant though? Once the shared aspect falters or a shift in interests occurs, the bond upholding the relationship weakens, thus the equality
Two of these would be how the similarity between the individuals and the content discussed play a part in promoting the equality. In the article “The Psychology of Friendship Relations: Social Factors” by psychologists Robert S. Albert & Thomas R. Brigante, psychology is used as a basis to identify how friendships form and what factors drive or repel them. One point made in this article is that friends must, “…fully identify with one another, and vicariously engage in these same activities with their direct and indirect ‘rewards’ and ‘punishments’” (Albert and Brigante 38). The more similar the attitudes and behavior of an individual to another individual, the more likely they are to become friends. This similarity in character also strengthens the understanding and appreciation of the associated members. Through the shared identity and the same advantages and disadvantages, the equality between the individuals is maintained. In addition, the conversation is equally vital in maintaining friendships, particularly the content discussed. Albert and Brigante mention that the communication process is centered around, “…the specific content that is communicated by the participants within a particular social structure” (Albert and Brigante 36). The content discussed between a group of people is one of the main gateways to figuring out the similarities and differences between them. In a friendship setting, when the conversation is regarding topics that everyone in the group can relate to, no one feels left out, so the equality is stabilized in this way. In a hypothetical high school conversation, for example, if the only means of conversation were that of AP classes, those who are not enrolled in those same AP’s or any at all will be left out. For closure, this psychological approach seeks to explain how the