Relationship Development and Deterioration

Video: 500 Days of Summer

Trace the development of the relationship between Tom and Summer through the developmental stages of romantic relationships. If they do not reach a certain stage, you must explain why. Provide two examples per applicable stage.

Initiating:

1.

2.

Experimenting:

1.

2.

Intensifying:

1.

2.

Integrating:

1.

2.

Bonding:

1.

2.

Trace the deterioration and termination of the relationship in the course of the movie through the deterioration phases of romantic relationships. If they do not reach a certain stage, you must explain why. Provide two examples per applicable stage.

Differentiating:

1.

2.

Circumscribing:

1.

2.

Stagnating:

1.

2.

Avoiding:

1.

2.

Terminating:

1.

2.

Find a dialectical tension that Tom and Summer go through in the film (integration-separation, stability-change, expression-privacy). Describe each character’s behavior and why they are on one side of the tension. Next, which strategy do they implement to solve their tension? If they did not solve the tension, how would you have solved the tension?

Provide an example from Tom and Summer’s relationship that reinforces the 7 reasons why we form relationships:

Appearance:

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