ABSTRACT
Domestic animals were regarded primarily as servants rather than friends, and they were expected to earn their keep. The term, for instance, has been used to describe ‘momentary physical playmates’ among young children between the ages of roughly three and five years, although most authorities would agree that children of this age are too egocentric to grasp the complexities of adult friendship. Friendships can also be described in various ways: in terms of the kinds of interactions friends engage in, how these interactions are distributed, the overall quality of the relationship, and a number of other parameters, such as intimacy, reciprocity, complementarity, interpersonal perception and commitment. The degree of intimacy in friendships depends to a large extent on the individual propensities of those involved, although idealistic conceptions of friendship place strong emphasis on intimacy, at least at the level of mutual self-disclosure.
