The impacts that teasing has on relationships

    Teasing is a thing that people widely use in life. Children at their young age for instance use it since they tend to tease other children and get teased themselves. People of all ages, however, use teasing throughout the various relationships in their lives. Teasing though common can have both positive and negative impacts on relationships. The impacts of teasing on relationships are what I will be teaching in this blog post. First, I will discuss some positive impacts, then some negative impacts, and ultimately an example of how teasing impacts a relationship.

    One positive impact of teasing on relationships is that it can improve them by helping them feel fun or playful and by making them seem secure (Meyer, 2015). This impact means that teasing can make people's relationships a lot better by creating an atmosphere in them that can be perceived as enjoyable and comfortable. Along with making relationships seem more secure teasing is also said to make relationships feel more liberating for people since it allows them to communicate in a way that is not too limited or judgy (Meyer, 2015). This means that teasing can additionally impact relationships positively by allowing the people in them to communicate more openly. Another positive impact of teasing on relationships though is that it can help people show others that they want their relationship to become closer (Meyer, 2015). This ultimately means that teasing can be positive for relationships by signaling the need for closeness between the people in them.

    Teasing, however, can also negatively impact relationships since it is generally associated with the enforcement and differentiation functions of humor that drive people apart (Meyer, 2015). What this means is that teasing can be negative for relationships by isolating people from one another. Teasing can additionally be negative for relationships since some people may interpret it as a personal attack that can then put their relationships at risk (Meyer, 2015). This plainly means that when people assign a negative meaning to teasing their relationships can be up against some potential harm. Aside from this teasing can also negatively impact relationships when it is overly used since it can harm an individual by questioning or putting down their identity, which can then make it difficult for their relationships to persist (Meyer, 2015). This at last means that when teasing is done to a great extent it can upset people and as such make it complicated for them to push forward with their relationships.

    Something that exemplifies an impact of teasing on relationships is the impact that me and my mother's relationship faces when she teases me about being angry. Every time I get angry my mother teases me by making fun of my furrowed eyebrows. In our mother daughter relationship, her use of teasing has a positive impact since it prevents my anger from making our relationship serious and instead allows me to see that our relationship can in all be playful even when I am angry.

References

Meyer, J. C. (2015). Understanding Humor Through Communication: Why Be Funny, Anyway?. Lexington Books.