factors affecting attraction self disclosure

• Self-disclosure


  Revealing personal information about yourself
• Romantic partners reveal more about their true selves as their relationship develops
• Self-disclosures about one's deepest thoughts and feelings can strengthen a romantic bond when used appropriately
• Self-disclosure


  In the early days of a relationship, we love to learn as much as we can about our new partner, and the more we learn about them the more we seem to like them
• By revealing ourselves to another person, we share our likes and dislikes, our hopes and fears, our interests and attitudes
• Our partner understands us better, and we them
• Self-disclosure has a vital role in a relationship beyond the initial attraction
• Most people are careful about what they disclose, at least to begin with
• Used wisely and effectively, self-disclosure can help the course of true love run smoother
• Social penetration theory


  A theory of how relationships develop, involving the gradual process of revealing your inner self to someone else
• In romantic relationships, self-disclosure involves the reciprocal exchange of information between intimate partners
• As partners increasingly disclose more and more, they 'penetrate' more deeply into each other's lives, and gain a greater understanding of each other
• Self-disclosure is a basic feature of romantic relationships
• Doing so means that a relationship has reached a certain stage where such self-disclosure will be welcomed and reciprocated
• Breadth and depth of self-disclosure

  As both breadth (range of topics) and depth (intimacy of information) of self-disclosure increase, romantic partners become more committed to each other
• At the start of a relationship, self-disclosure is superficial and low-risk, but as the relationship develops, self-disclosure becomes deeper and encompasses a wider range of topics
• Eventually partners are prepared to reveal intimate, high-risk information
• Depenetration


  The process of dissatisfied partners self-disclosing less as they gradually disengage from the relationship
• For a relationship to develop, there needs to be a reciprocal element to disclosure, where partners respond with empathy and their own intimate thoughts and feelings
• Reciprocal self-disclosure increases feelings of intimacy and deepens the relationship
• Research has found that open and honest self-disclosure is the main way many homosexual couples maintain and deepen their relationships
• If less-skilled partners learn to use self-disclosure, this could bring several benefits to their relationships in terms of deepening satisfaction and commitment
• Self-disclosure theory is limited because it is based on findings from individualist cultures which are not necessarily generalisable to other cultures
• Research has found that despite lower levels of sexual self-disclosure in China (a collectivist culture) compared to the US, levels of relationship satisfaction were no different
• Correlational research on self-disclosure and relationship satisfaction does not establish a causal link, as alternative explanations are possible