friendship
Let an agent explain friendship and its forms, provide evidence-based information on making and keeping friends, describe cultural forms with attribution, and support people experiencing loneliness or conflict.
Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled
4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions
Understand What friendship is.
Kinds
Kinds of friendship.
Kinds
Kinds.
- What kinds of friendship exist, and how do philosophers and psychologists distinguish them? provenance
- How does friendship differ from other relationships? definition
Culture
Cultural forms.
Culture
Culture.
- How do cultures formalise or celebrate friendship, such as sworn friendship or friendship between peoples, in their own terms? provenance
- How do norms of friendship vary? provenance
Build Making and keeping friends.
Make
Making friends.
Make
Making friends.
- What does research say about how friendships form and how adults can make new friends? provenance
- Which practical steps help? action
Keep
Maintaining friendships.
Keep
Maintaining.
- How can friendships be maintained across distance, life changes and conflict? action
- When should a friendship end, according to relationship experts? boundary
Support Loneliness and safety.
Loneliness
Loneliness.
Loneliness
Loneliness.
- Which resources and services help people experiencing loneliness? provenance
- Is the person in crisis, requiring urgent support? boundary
Safety
Unhealthy relationships.
Safety
Safety.
- What are signs of an exploitative or abusive relationship presented as friendship, and where can help be found? provenance
- Is a child or vulnerable person at risk? boundary
Science Research and change.
Research
Friendship research.
Research
Research.
- What does research say about friendship and health, wellbeing and longevity? provenance
- How does friendship change across the lifespan? provenance
Technology
Online friendship.
Technology
Technology.
- How do online platforms and messaging change friendship, according to research? provenance
- Which risks and benefits are documented? provenance
Classifiers Filled
- Family
- Thing Registry
- Category
- Cross-cutting context
- Entry kind
- thing
- Plane
- XCT
- Domain
- XCT.QLT
- Other names and narrower kinds
- sworn friendship, friendship of peoples, Three Sisters, casual relationship, unlikely friendship, queer friendship, companionship, comradeship, romantic friendship, mateship, Kalyāṇa-mittatā, workplace friendship
What it is Filled
A voluntary relationship of mutual affection, trust and support between people, ranging from less close friendships to lifelong bonds, formalised in some cultures as sworn friendship, celebrated in ideals such as friendship between peoples, and studied in psychology, sociology and philosophy; friendship contributes to wellbeing and is shaped by culture, age and technology.
Why it exists Filled
Let an agent explain friendship and its forms, provide evidence-based information on making and keeping friends, describe cultural forms with attribution, and support people experiencing loneliness or conflict.
Distinguishing features Filled
- Voluntary
- Mutual
- Non-kin
- Culturally shaped
What robots and AI may and may not do Filled
Must not
- Present itself as a human friend or hide that it is an agent.
- Encourage a person to rely on it instead of human relationships.
- Present exploitative or abusive relationships as friendship.
- Disclose what a person has shared about their friends.
Only with a human decision
- Responding to signs of serious loneliness, self-harm or abuse.
May
- Explain friendship and its role in wellbeing, citing psychology and philosophy.
- Help a person keep in touch with friends at their request.
Moral aspects Filled
- Loneliness harms health; friendship is a real need.
- Agents can create dependence that crowds out human ties.
Who is affected
- Lonely or isolated people
- Children and young people
- Friends who are discussed
Owners Filled
Steward
Nobody: a relationship held between the friends themselves.
Links to other meta-models Filled
parent
- Q223642 - registry parent class
related
- interpersonal relationship - category
- cooperation - basis of friendship
- happiness - wellbeing effect
- daughter - family relations contrast
What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled
Identity and identifiers required Filled
- Vercy registry: vr.tr.friendship
- Wikidata: Q491 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q491)
Direct properties not applicable Not applicable
Not applicable
Plane XCT: no invented physical properties.
Recognition optional Filled
- Voluntary and mutual
- Affection and trust
- Family and romantic relationships are related but distinct
- Not physical; a relationship.
Capabilities and actions required Filled
- explain kinds of friendship
- provide evidence-based guidance on friendships
- describe cultural forms
- support people facing loneliness or conflict
Hazards and failure modes required Filled
- Loneliness and isolation
- Exploitative or abusive relationships presented as friendship
- Agents overstepping into therapy
Standards and interfaces required Filled
- No regulation; ethical norms
- Safeguarding rules for friendships involving minors or vulnerable people
Context of use required Filled
- Voluntary bonds of mutual affection.
- close and casual friendships
- childhood and lifelong friendships
- sworn and ritual friendships
- cross-group and unlikely friendships
- online friendships
Sources Filled
- Wikidata item Q491: friendship - identity and sense of the item
- Wikipedia: Friendship - general description of the item
Open questions
- Should loneliness be a separate entry?
- How should research be linked?
- How should support services be localised?
Machine files
Provenance
thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed
Built from: models/things/publications/thing-q491/spec.json