relationships - self disclosure

• what is self disclosure?


  the act of telling someone information about yourself
• why is self-disclosure important?

  the more we learn about someone, the more we tend to like them (and so feel attracted towards them)
• as the relationship progresses...

  romantic partner TEND to reveal more about their thoughts and feelings which can help deepen the attraction and strengthen the bond between the couple
• what is the social penetration theory?

  a theory about how relationships develop, based upon self disclosure
• what does social penetration theory suggest?

  couples go through processes of gradually penetrating in to each other lives - increasing self disclosure

  
  

  one partner discloses something about themselves - signals the relationship is at a certain stage and they trust their partners - to deepen this the other partner reciprocates by revealing something about themselves
• how does self disclosure increase as the relationship progresses?

  increases in breadth + depth
• development of a relationship can be compared too...

  peeling layers of an onion

  outer layers of an onion - low risk information

  
  

  peeling layers off - high risk information (painful memories, secrets etc) and our true selves are revealed
• the social penetration is backed by who? what do they suggest?

  reis and shaver

  also suggest that self-disclosure is important in the development of a relationship
• reciprocity and balance of self-disclosure increases what?

  feelings of intimacy and deepens the relationship
• give two strengths


  :) used to help people improve communication and intimacy in relationship - hass and stafford found that 57% of gay women and men reported using self disclosure to maintain and deepen romantic relationships

  SO good application

  
  

  :) supported by research - sprecher and hendrick males and females who used self disclosure and got it back were more satisfied and committed to their relationship

  + laurenceau et al - looked at diary entries

  found: higher levels of self disclosure and it being returned were correlated with higher levels of intimacy and long term married couples

  SO correlation evidence suggesting self disclosure increases intimacy - theory is valid HOWEVER correlation is not causation
• give two weaknesses


  :( not fully validated - evidence supporting increased self disclosure and satisfaction is correlational

  may be the other way around - satisfied couples are more likely to disclose information to each other +

  could be a third factor to being more satisfied and perceive that each patterned share more information eg/ around of time together

  
  

  :( lack generalisability - tang et al found that men and women in US shared more thoughts and feelings than people in china. prediction was there would be satisfied couples in USA but satisfaction was the same in both cultures

  SO theories of attraction area based on the values of western, individualistic cultures + have poor population validity