Self-Disclosure

• Self-disclosure


  revealing personal information about yourself

  romantic partners reveal more about their true selves as their relationship develops

  self disclosures about ones deepest thoughts and feelings can strengthen a romantic bond when used appropriately
• Social Penetration Theory - Altman and Taylor

  gradual process of revealing your inner self to someone else of giving away your deepest thoughts and feelings

  in romantic relationships, it involves the reciprocal exchange of info between intimate partners. when one partner reveals some personal info they're signalling: 'I trust you' to go further the other partner must also reveal some sensitive info.
• Onion Analogy


  as relationship progresses, more layers of the onion are removed representing deeper and more meaningful info being disclosed.

  only likely to occur if the exchange of such info is reciprocal -> showing empathy, understanding and revealing personal details about themselves.
• Breadth and depth of self-disclosure - Reis Shaver

  both increase as romantic partners become more committed to each other.

  start -> disclose a lot about themselves what we reveal is superficial.

  'low risk' info we would reveal to anyone, e.g. friends, co-workers

  'off limits' in early stages of a relationship - breadth of disclosure is narrow.

  as relationship develops, self-disclosure becomes deeper, progressively removing more and more layers to reveal our true selves and covering a wider range of topics.
• Reciprocity of self-disclosure


  Reis and Shaver point out, as well as an increase in breadth and depth there needs to be a reciprocal element to disclosure.

  there's a balance of self-disclosure between both partners in a successful relationship, which increases feelings of intimacy and deepens the relationship.
• Strength - Support from research studies

  Laurenceau et al used a method that involved writing diary entries

  Self disclosure and perception of it is linked to higher levels of intimacy in long term married couples

  Strength because it suggests that the depth and breadth of self disclosure is strongly predictive of the intimacy and quality of romantic relationships

  supports the validity of the social penetration theory as an indicator of relationship quality
• Strength - Support from research studies

  Sprecher and Hendrick studied heterosexual dating couples and found a strong positive correlation between several measures of satisfaction and self-disclosure.

  men and women who used self-disclosure and those who believe their partners did likewise were more satisfied with and committed to their romantic relationship.

  however, this isn't applicable to homosexual relationships

  correlation - can't establish cause and effect between satisfaction and self-disclosure
• Weakness - Cultural Differences

  social penetration theory isn't applicable to all cultures

  the idea that increasing breadth and depth will lead to more intimate relationships is not true for all cultures

  Tang et al found that people in the US disclose more than those in China.

  Self disclosure theory is a limited explanation because it is based on findings from western cultures which aren't generalisable.
• Strength - Real-life applications

  Hass and Stafford have shown that an increased understanding of the importance of self-disclosure in building and maintaining intimacy within relationships can have a real-life advantage.

  researchers found that for couples with high levels of intimacy and commitment within their relationships, 57% reported the use of self-disclosure as a way to maintain it and deepen their committed relationships

  This supports the use of therapies which focus on increasing the depth and breadth of self-disclosure for couples who struggle with intimacy as well as increasing trust within the relationship.

  Predicts made by social penetration theory, thus further increasing validity of theory.