Self-disclosure

• What is self-disclosure as a factor affecting attraction?

  • Revealing personal information about yourself
  • Jourard (1971): romantic partners reveal more about themselves as the relationship develops, strengthening their bond and building trust
• What is the social penetration theory?

  • The gradual process of revealing personal and sensitive information about ourselves to our partners through reciprocal exchange
  • Revelations display trust
  • By sharing what really matters to us we gain a greater understanding of one another
• What is breadth and depth as a factor of self-disclosure?

  • Altman & Taylor - as breadth and depth increases, so does commitment
  • Onion metaphor refers to initially revealing superficial information and moving onto more intimate details later, and as depth increases so can breadth
• What research support is there for self-disclosure?

  • Collins and Miller (1994) conducted a meta-analysis and found that those who engage in intimate disclosure are liked more than those who disclose less
  • Liking is stronger when people self-disclose to each other exclusively rather than shared indiscriminately with others
  • Supports social penetration theory - the more info disclosed, the more they are liked
• What is the 'boom and bust' phenomenon in relation to self-disclosure?

  • Cooper and Sportolari (1997): when people self-disclose earlier over the internet, relationships get intense very quickly (boom)
  • But there is no underlying trust and true knowledge to support the relationship making it difficult to sustain
  • Weakens the self-disclosure explanation as there is clearly more to building relationships than just revealing information
• What is a strength of the self-disclosure explanation?

  • Tal-Or and Hershman-Shitrit (2015): relationship between gradual self-disclosure and attraction also applies to reality TV contestants
  • Found that viewers prefer individuals who self-disclosed gradually and then became more intimate supporting the breadth and depth theory
• What cultural differences are there in patterns of self-disclosure?

  • Chen (1995): Westerners typically engage in more intimate self-disclosure than non-Westerners
  • Nakanishi (1986): Japanese women prefer lower levels of personal conversations than men, opposing self-disclosure patterns typically found in the West where women prefer more disclosure than men
  • Suggests that importance of SD as an aspect of attraction is moderated by cultural influences