7Friendship by Petrona Viera (1895-1960) Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between people. [1] It is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an association, and has been studied in academic fields such as communication , sociology , social psychology , anthropology , and philosophy . Various academic theories of friendship have been proposed, including social exchange theory , equity theory , relational dialectics , and attachment styles . Although there are many forms of friendship, some of which may vary from place to place, certain characteristics are present in many types of such bonds. Such characteristics include affection ; kindness , love , virtue , sympathy , empathy , honesty , altruism , loyalty , generosity , forgiveness , mutual understanding and compassion ...