factors affecting attraction : self- disclosure

• self-disclosure: revealing personal information about yourself to another person, tells us about ones deepest thoughts and feelings and can strengthen a romantic bond
• Social -penetration theory = Taylor and Altman:

  • it is a gradual process of revealing your inner self to someone else
  • revealing personal information is a sign of trust
  • partner then has to reciprocate and reveal personal information
• there are 2 elements when it comes self disclosure:

  • breadth
  • depth
• breadth:

  • at the start is narrow as we don't want to reveal too much information too soon , may be off-putting for the other person and may want to quit the relationship
• depth:

  • as rs develops more layers gradually revealed
  • more likely to reveal more intimate information including painful memories
• need for reciprocity: Reis and Shaver suggested that in addition to a broadening and deepening of self-disclosure there must be reciprocity

  • in turn should lead further self-disclosure from the other partner
• one strength is that several predictions about self-disclosure derived from social penetrations theory have been supported by research

  • Sprecher and Hendrick, found strong correlations between several measures of satisfaction and self-disclosure in hetero-sexual couples
  • men and women who used self -disclosure and believed that their partners did the same, were committed to their romantic rs
  • this supports the concept of self-disclosure being a key component of committed romantic relationship
• another strength is that it has real life applications:

  • Haas and Stafford found that 57% of get man and women reported that open and honest disclosure was a maintenance strategy
  • couples used to small talk can be encouraged to increase self-disclosure in order to deepen their own relationship
  • this highlights the importance of self-disclosure and suggests that the theory can be used to support having rs problems
• • one limitation is that it does not apply to all cultures
  • Tang et al concluded that people in the US(individualist) self disclosure significantly more sexual thought and feelings than men and women in China (collectivist)
  • both levels of self disclosure are linked to relationship satisfaction in those cultures but nevertheless the pattern of self-disclosure is different
  • social penetration theory is therefore a limited explanations of romantic rs and not necessarily generalisable to other cultures