ABSTRACT
Relationship construction is tricky business. In courtship and friendship alike, the mutuality of goals, intentions, and interpretations is relative, not absolute. Even the most successful relationships emerge from interactions that necessarily involve equivocal messages, ambiguous meanings, and second-guessing. This chapter focuses on some of the challenges of ordinary relationship pursuit that can help explain the occurrence of Obsessive Relational Intrusion and stalking. Relationships emerge from the interactions that people share and the cumulative conceptions of those interactions derived by each respective partner. The fact that two people "share" a relationship does not require their goals and intentions to be mutual. The dynamic nature of relational goals, intentions, and meanings also militates against complete mutuality in defining a relationship. Relationships are emergent and developmental-their form and meaning undergo constant revision and refinement as partners continue to interact, and as partners continue to make sense of the relationship in between episodes of interaction.
