Interpersonal Communication- A Mindful Approach to Relationships, 2020a

• Create your definition of emotional infidelity. Ask three friends to come up with
their definition of emotional infidelity. Compare and contrast the four definitions.
• After reading the section on Internet infidelity and Internet characteristics, find
your example in the popular media that relates to one of the characteristics of
the Internet that seems to facilitate infidelity. For example, you might choose the
characteristic “speed.” Find an article in the popular media in which speed played
a role in an individual’s ability to “cheat” in the virtual environment.
• Working in a group, create an example of each type of hurtful message from your
own life that you have experienced or witnessed. What was the reaction? Label
the reaction according to Vangelisti and Crumley’s Reaction Types.
14.2 The Dark Side of Relationships: Aggression
1. Explain relational aggression.
Learning
Outcomes
2. Explore relational aggression among women.
4. Describe bullying and bullying in the workplace.
5. Explain basic strategies for handling the dark side of
interpersonal communication.
Relational Aggression
is defined as behaviors that harm others. 26 Harm is created through damaging
social relationships or feelings of acceptance. Research on relational aggression indicates that it involves
both confrontational and nonconfrontational behaviors. Specific behaviors associated with confrontation,
or direct behavior, include name-calling, cruel teasing, ridicule, and verbal rejection directed at the target.
Nonconfrontational or indirect behaviors include spreading rumors, gossiping, and social manipulation. 27,28
Adolescents use indirect aggression more than direct aggression to harm relationships.
When researching 11 to 13-year-olds, five categories of relationally aggressive behaviors were identified. 29
The categories are labeled inconsistent friendships, rumors/gossip, excluding/ditching friends, social
intimidation, and notes/technological aggression. Additional research identified seven types of relationally
aggressive behaviors among high school girls. 30 Based on open-ended descriptions from high school girls,
the following categories of relational aggression were found: the physical threat/physical attack, rejection,
humiliation, betrayal, personal attack, boy manipulation, and relational depreciation. In addition to the
categories of relationship aggression, it is essential to note that gossiping and spreading rumors were the
most common forms of relational aggression across age groups. 31,32
Interpersonal Communication 508