A relationship is a specific connection between objects, entities or concepts. Typical forms of relationship are social relationships between people, causal relationships between events, and mathematical or theoretical relationships between components of a modelled system. — Wikipedia

And now for some wisdom:

“Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you'll understand what little chance you have in trying to change others.” — Anon

A component of personal growth is useful social interactions…

A relationship type or inter-type relation is the inevitable result of two or more personality types interacting and displaying predictable behaviours in-line with Socionics when together. An inter-type relation can therefore have some key observable variables or influencing ingredients as follows:

Relationship Elements	General Descriptions/Comments	Personifications
Egotistic Orientations	Does the relationship occur between two intratim or two extratim personalities? For example, two ESTj's or two ISFp's etc. Or does it occur between an intratim with an extratim personality? For example, an INTp with ESTp etc. The image to the right illustrates the conceptual parting of Intratims and Extratims where no division exists except in your real world perception. In other words, notice how for a moment there appears a difference in the vertical lines (due to those arrow heads) then when you focus on the horizontal lines it appears indifferent. A relationship from this element can be considered either monoverted (II or EE) or hetroverted (I and E).
Social Rhythms	Does the relationship occur between two rational or two irrational personalities? For example, an INTj with ENFj or ISFp with ESTp. Or does it occur between one rational and one irrational personality? For example, an INTp with ESTj. The metronome opposite represents a personality's lifestyle rhythm in relation to others. A relationship from this element can be considered either rhythmic (jj or pp) or arrhythmic (j and p). It is then said that a rhythmic relation creates a short psychological distance whilst an arrhythmic relation produces a loose psychological distance.
Spiritual Vibes	Does the relationship "feed" your mind or does it feel like everything goes in one ear and out the other1? The image to the right represents the presence or lack of a "magnetism effect" in regards to how impressionable someone can seem towards you with the thoughts they share. This makes for two kinds of relationship: attraction and repulsion in regards to psychological receptiveness.
Social Rankings	Does the relationship have a "big brother"2 aspect? Does one partner feel like they are always the object of attention? If that's the case then you're probably dealing with a relationship of transmission and reception where one person takes on a superior position whilst the other gets the "short end of the stick"3. A relation can typically be considered symmetrical (socially balanced), or asymmetrical (socially imbalanced) as the image to the right insinuates.

16 personality types = 16 inter-type relationships

You may scroll around the following interactive bubble map to explore the various types of relationships in the Socionics matrix:

Explore the 16 relationship types

The following table of relationships link you to a page on each. They also appear again on the individual personality types to show their specific relations.