Self-disclosure

• What is self-disclosure?

  • Self-disclosure means revealing personal information about yourself.
  • Romantic partners reveal more as they get more intimate.
  • Thoughts and feelings about one’s deepest thoughts and feelings can strengthen romantic bonds.
• What is social penetration?

  • It is a major theory in Altman and Taylor (1973) in how romantic relationships develop.
  • It is gradually revealing your inner self, giving your deepest parts away.
  • It involves reciprocating exchange of information between partners. 
  • When one partner reveals some personal information, it indicates they trust the other person and the other partner must also reveal sensitive information.
  • As they disclose more and more, romantic partners penetrate deeply into each other’s lives and gain understanding of each other. 
• Superficial layer of an onion?

  • Researchers use the metaphor of an onion to describe these elements.
  • At the start of a relationship, we disclose more superficial information, which is surface level and it is low risk information that we can share with anyone like co-workers and even acquaintances.
  • Breadth of disclosure is small as some topics are off limits.
  • They can threaten the relationship with too much information and get it going.
• Deep layer of an onion?

  • However, as the relationship develops, self-disclosure becomes deeper.
  • This removes more and more layers with more topics.
  • This shows increased depth and breadth.
  • Eventually we may reveal intimate, high details like painful memories/ experiences or even secrets.
• Reis and Shaver addition to social penetration theory?

  • Reis and Shaver point out that for a relationship to develop, there needs to also be a reciprocal element in disclosure.
  • When you disclose something to your partner that reveals your true self, it should be rewarding such as through empathy and their own intimate thoughts.
  • There is a balance between self-disclosure of both partners in a successful relationship and deepens the relationship.
• Positive evaluation regarding marital satisfaction?

  • Supporting study - Sprecher and Henrick (2004) studied heterosexual couples.
  • They found strong positive correlations between several measures of satisfaction and self-disclosure for both members in a couple.
  • Men and women who used self-disclosure and those who believed their partners did were more satisfied with their romantic relationship.
• Negative evaluation regarding correlation?

  • However, most research into self-disclosure is correlational.
  • This creates bi-directional ambiguity as it may be that people who are securely attached self-disclose more rather than make them more secure.
  • Cause and effect cannot be inferred as a result. The relationship between both is unclear. 
• Real life implications?

  • Research into self-disclosure can help communication in couples.
  • Romantic partners use it deliberately and skillfully to increase intimacy.
  • Hass and Stafford found 57% of gay men and women found open and honest self-disclosure key to maintenance of a relationship.
  • Those who tend to limit themselves to small talk can learn using self-disclosure as bringing several benefits in a relationship by deepening satisfaction and commitment.
• Issues of cultural bias?

  • There may be issues of cultural bias as the prediction of self-disclosure being more satisfying and intimate for all cultures.
  • For example, Tand et al looked at research regarding sexual self-disclosure.
  • They found that more sexual thoughts and feelings were self-disclosed in Americans than in China.
  • High sexual self-disclosure resulted in more satisfaction in America and viceversa in China.
  • Sexual self-disclosure is therefore a limited explanation of romantic relationships.
  • It is also not generalisable to other cultures and it is also culturally biased.