self disclosure

• Self disclosure - Jourard ( 1971 ) - revealing personal information about yourself. Relationships are formed through trust, which is demonstrated by gradually revealing personal information. This leads to more satisfaction in relationships.
• The social penetration theory - Altman and Taylor ( 1973 ) - the idea that gradually revealing emotions and experiences to a partner, followed by reciprocity, leads to a greater understanding of each other
• Two dimensions of self disclosure - depth and breadth
• Self disclosure breadth - sharing a lot of information about certain aspects of themselves
• Self disclosure depth - some topics are considered off limits, until deeper trust is built
• Social penetration theory is the idea that relationships have layers, and as the relationship develops, each partner reveals more details about themselves.
• Reis and Shaver ( 1988 ) suggest that reciprocity is important to a relationship developing further, as when self disclosing, a person expects their partner to also disclose in order to develop understanding
• Social penetration theory suggests that there is a high risk disclosing early in a relationship and low risk later on.
• In social penetration theory, as depth and breadth increase, romantic partners become more committed to each other
• SD Low risk information is revealed early in a relationship
• SD High risk information is revealed as the relationship progresses
• Reis and Shaver ( 1988 ) said there should be a balance of self disclosure between two partners, deepening the relationship
• SD depends on appropriateness, on the first date it may be seen as over the top or lacking in social skills
• It may be seen as less attractive to disclose personal information to everyone, and less attractive people self disclose more to make up for their looks
• More attractive people have more options to self disclose to
• Disclosure of highly intimate information may be seen as inappropriate and violating social norms, especially if the relationship is in its early stages. This could decrease attraction
• Self disclosure AO3. There is research support for self disclosure.

  Sprecher et al ( 2004 ) found strong correlations between satisfaction measures of heterosexual couples and self disclosure levels between them.

  This shows evidence that self disclosure provides more satisfying relationships, providing validity.

  However, as this research looks into correlation, a cause can be identified, only a relationship
• Self disclosure AO3. There is more research support a self disclosure.

  Laurenceaue ( 2005 ) used a method of writing daily diary entries. He found that self disclosure and perception of self disclosure in a partner was linked to higher levels of intimacy. However as this was self reporting, the data may be subject to social desirability bias.
• Self disclosure AO3. Another example of research support for self disclosure is Wartman et al ( 1976 )

  It was found that when individuals believed they had been specifically selected for intimate disclosure, they felt trusted and admired and therefore rated the disclosing person favourably.

  This shows evidence that self disclosure is beneficial to relationships
• Self disclosure AO3. A benefit of self disclosure is that it has real life applications.

  Self disclosure can be used in couples therapy. Hass and Stafford found that 57% of gay men and women said that open and honest self disclosure was how they maintained their relationship.

  This shows that we can use this concept to benefit real life couples
• Self disclosure AO3. Predicting that increasing depth and breadth will lead to a more satisfying relationship is not true for all cultures.

  Tang et al ( 2013 ) reviewed the research literature regarding sexual self disclosure and found that people from the USA, an individualistic culture disclosed significantly more sexual thoughts and feelings than men and women in China, a collectivist culture.

  Applying findings from one culture to another culture to another culture would be ethnocentric bias