Creating a Friend Map

Let’s Talk Social Circles: What is the Difference Between a Friend and an Acquaintance?

According to one study found on SocialPro, the difference between friends and acquaintances is your self-presentation. “Self-presentation represents behaviors used in establishing an identity with others; such behaviors may differ across various interpersonal relationships.”

In other words, your self-presentation is the side of yourself you choose to reveal to a person, or how much of yourself you choose to share with somebody. What you choose to share about yourself, and the ways you choose to share it, will be different with an acquaintance than they will with a true friend.

In fact, the study found that people “engaged in more self-presentation in more established types of relationships.” This means that people were more trusting of their friends than their acquaintances and as a result they shared more about themselves and their lives. However, the study also found that people were more likely to try harder to impress acquaintances than closer friends (which is why it’s been 5 years since you’ve worn anything other than sweatpants to your best friend’s house, and vice versa).What makes a person an acquaintance instead of a friend is the amount of time you spend with them.

Considering these two components can help you determine whether someone is your acquaintance or your true friend:

  1. How much do I trust this person/how comfortable am I sharing the more personal details of my life with them?
  2. How concerned am I with impressing this person/how comfortable am I being my true self around them?

Examples

Acquaintance: Someone with whom you spend some time, but you do not make plans to see each other intentionally. Your conversations are often surface level, and you may feel the need to impress an acquaintance.

Friend: Your interactions may be sporadic, but you make plans to see one another rather than in passing or by chance. You will have more than surface-level conversations with friends, but likely will not share everything with them.

Close Friends/Inner Circle: You make intentional plans to spend time together more regularly, and you are completely real around them. You often share much, if not everything, about your life with each other. These friendships often last a lifetime.

Task:

  1. On paper or electronically, create three headings: close friends/inner circle, friends, acquaintances.
  2. List all people in your life that come to mind and place them under the appropriate heading to represent your relationship.
  3. Note: you may need to limit your acquaintances, as often times we have quite a few.

Reference:

Acquaintance vs Friend – What defines your relationship? – Socialpro

There are a lot of people in the world, and as you go about your day-to-day life there’s a pretty good chance you’re going to meet some of them. While many of the people you meet will remain acquaintances, some of them will become your friends. But how do you know the difference?