Social penetration theory - Irwin Altman & Dalmas Taylor (1973)
The gradual process of revealing your inner self to someone else, of giving away your deepest thoughts and feelings
Breadth and Depth of self-disclosure
Breadth - broadness, at the start of a relationship, the breadth is high since we expose a lot of superficial details about ourselves as a means of finding compatibility
Depth - as a relationship progresses, self-disclosure becomes deeper and more focused due to the developing trust of the relationship
Reciprocity of self-disclosure - Philip Shaver & Harry Rels (1988)
Where someone’s self-disclosure of their true self is rewarded through empathy from their partner and their own intimate thoughts and feelings that increases feelings of intimacy and deepens the relationship.
