Self-disclosure

• What is self-disclosure?

  Self-disclosure is when a person reveals intimate personal information about themselves to another person.
• Self-disclosure is an important process in the development of romantic relationships, with greater disclosure leading to greater feelings of intimacy.
• Sprecher et al. (2013)'s procedure:

  156 US undergraduate students paired into two-person dyads. In the reciprocal condition, dyad members immediately took turns asking questions and disclosing. In the non-reciprocal condition, one person asked questions in the first interaction while the other person disclosed. Then the two switched roles for the second interaction. After each interaction, the researchers assessed liking, closeness, perceived similarity, and enjoyment of the interaction.
• Sprecher et al. (2013)'s findings:

  Individuals in the reciprocal condition dyads reported more liking, closeness, perceived similarity, and enjoyment of the interaction than did those in the non-reciprocal dyads after the first interaction. This difference remained after participants in the non-reciprocal dyads switched disclosure roles during the second interaction.
• Different types of self-disclosure:

  Sprecher (1987) found that disclosure of, for example, experiences of personal disappointments and accomplishments, and information about previous sexual relationships, have a greater influence on relationship satisfaction than more 'neutral' types of self-disclosure.
• Norms of self-disclosure:

  For example, there is the norm that people should engage in only a moderately personal level of self-disclosure in the early stages of a relationship. There is considerable evidence that people possess a norm of reciprocity concerning self-disclosure. The more one person discloses to another, the more disclosure is expected in return.
• AO3 - Research support for the importance of self-disclosure:

  A meta-analysis by Collins and Miller (1994) found that people who engage in intimate disclosures tend to be liked more than people who disclose at lower levels, and people like others as a result of having disclosed to them.
• AO3 - Self-disclosure on the Internet: The 'boom and bust' phenomenon:

  Cooper and Sportolari (1997) suggest when people reveal more about themselves earlier than they would in a face-to-face interaction, relationships get intense very quickly (boom). However, because the underlying trust and true knowledge of the other person are not there to support the relationship, it becomes difficult to sustain (bust).
• AO3 - Self-disclosure may be greater in face-to-face than online relationships:


  Research by Knop et al. (2016) revealed that members of a social group disclose personal information more often in face-to-face than online interactions and disclose more intimate information. A person who is disclosing appreciates non-verbal cues such as eye contact and the attentive silence of someone they are disclosing to, both absent in the online environment.
• AO3 - Cultural differences in patterns of self-disclosure:

  In the West, people typically engage in more intimate self-disclosure than do non-Westerners. Americans disclose more than do Chinese or Japanese. This suggests that the importance of self-disclosure as an aspect of attraction is moderated by the influence of culture.