{"id":59395,"date":"2019-07-26T12:03:16","date_gmt":"2019-07-26T16:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=59395"},"modified":"2019-07-29T09:05:28","modified_gmt":"2019-07-29T13:05:28","slug":"the-power-of-friendship-worth-celebrating-says-brock-prof","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2019\/07\/the-power-of-friendship-worth-celebrating-says-brock-prof\/","title":{"rendered":"The power of friendship worth celebrating, says Brock prof"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bullies are often seen as powerful, but Brock Associate Professor of Psychology Andrew Dane sees greater strength in being a good friend.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s tremendous social power in developing good close friendships,\u201d Dane said in advance of <\/span>International Day of Friendship<\/span><\/a> on Tuesday, July 30. \u201cThe thing about friendship is that it\u2019s for mutual benefit. It\u2019s about sticking together, loyalty, reciprocity, prosocial behaviour and helping one another, and there\u2019s a lot of strength in that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On International Day of Friendship, the United Nations invites individuals and organizations around the world to celebrate friendship according to their own cultures and circumstances.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reflecting on the pending celebration, Dane said research has shown that the attachment relationship between an infant and parent is crucial to building a child\u2019s lifelong capacity to develop healthy relationships, including friendships.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Andrew Dane, Associate Professor of Psychology, says there\u2019s a social power to friendship.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cBeing there consistently is probably the most important thing parents can do,\u201d he said. \u201cBy being available and sensitive in responding to the child\u2019s needs, parents demonstrate that, when you need help, you can ask people and they will support you, they will understand you and they will make you feel better.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The parent-child dynamic provides a template for future relationships, Dane said. People who are securely attached are more open to intimacy and trust, and they expect kindness and support from others.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody needs help and support,\u201d Dane said. \u201cFriends can be that resource for you when you need it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not just about companionship. Having friends can also offer a measure of protection.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bullies use coercive, aggressive and purposeful behaviour to get what they want, he said, and they tend to pick on vulnerable people to show they\u2019re tough and strong.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut, people who have friends are less likely to be victimized because they have people there to stick up for them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Dane said friends are crucial in terms of mental health, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat social support protects people against developing things like depression, for example, or post-traumatic stress disorder after a trauma.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The power of friendship extends beyond our personal lives. According to the UN, teaching children to live together in peace and harmony can contribute to international peace and co-operation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a notion Dane agrees with.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I say about bullying versus prosocial behaviour and friendship applies at a political level,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are parallels when it comes to relationships between leaders and countries.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, U.S. President Donald Trump has inflicted \u201clasting damage to trust and co-operation\u201d by backing out of several major international agreements, he said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dane acknowledged there is a risk in putting your trust in someone who could take advantage of you. But, he said, \u201cit\u2019s also a strength because, through those relationships, you can achieve a lot of your goals in a way where everybody benefits instead of a selfish way where people go along with you because they\u2019re afraid or intimidated.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Seen through the lens of evolutionary psychology, bullying has its benefits, said Dane. Bullies tend to have more sex partners, giving them more chances to pass on their genes \u2014 but those benefits come at a cost.<\/span><\/p>\n

The dominance they achieve in the short term comes at the expense of co-operative long-term relationships, both at the individual and the societal level. Although they are popular, bullies are not well liked.<\/span><\/p>\n

In contrast, \u201cco-operation, friendships and prosocial behaviour are all about building relationships. The payoffs are not as obvious but they\u2019re more long term,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re much better off as individuals and as a society if people recognize the importance and work toward building those healthy prosocial relationships, including friendships and romantic relationships,\u201d Dane said. \u201cThat\u2019s the antidote to bullying, I think.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFriendship is a better way to achieve one\u2019s goals and to have social harmony and peace. It\u2019s how you achieve an egalitarian society.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bullies are often seen as powerful, but Brock Associate Professor of Psychology Andrew Dane sees greater strength in being a good friend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":59396,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,3319,1,4,38],"tags":[8125,606,8126,8123,8127,8124,29,31,2266],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59395"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59395"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59406,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59395\/revisions\/59406"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}