Factors affecting attraction: Self disclosure Flashcards
what is self-disclosure?
Revealing personal information about ourselves. Romantic partners reveal their true selves the more the relationship develops, these self-disclosures about ones deepest thoughts and feelings can strengthen a romantic bond when used appropriately.
who proposed social penetration theory?
Altman and Taylor
social penetration theory
Self-disclosure is a major concept within Altman and Taylor’s social penetration theory of how relationships develop.
It is the gradual process of revealing your inner self to someone else. In romantic relationships, it involves the reciprocal exchange of information between intimate partners. As they increasingly disclose, romantic partners ‘penetrate’ more deeply into each other’s lives, and gain a greater understanding of each other
what are the two elements of self-disclosure?
breadth and depth
how does breadth and depth of self-disclosure develop
As both of these increase, romantic partners become more committed to each other. We disclose a lot about ourselves at the start of a relationship, but it is mainly superficial information we would reveal to anyone. Breadth of disclosure is narrow because many topics are off-limits in early stages of a relationship. However, as a relationship develops, self-disclosure becomes deeper and eventually, we are prepared to reveal intimate, high-risk information.
Altman and Taylor used the term depenetration to describe how dissatisfied partners self-disclose less as they gradually disengage from the relationship.
What is necessary for a relationship to develop?
Reis and Shaver point out that for a relationship to develop, there needs to be a reciprocal element to disclosure also. In a successful relationship, there is a balance of self-disclosure between partners which increases feelings of intimacy and deepens the relationship.
Evaluation of self-disclosure (brief)
strength - research support, sprecher + hendrick, however correlational
strength - real world application, improve relationships (haas + stafford)
weakness - cultural differences (tang et al)
strengths of self-disclosure
several predictions about self-disclosure derived from social penetration theory have been supported by research. Sprecher and Hendrick studied heterosexual dating couples and found strong correlations between several measures of satisfaction and self-disclosure for both partners. Men and women who used self-disclosure (and believed their partners did likewise) were more satisfied with and committed to their romantic relationship. Sprecher later showed that relationships are closer and more satisfying when disclosure is reciprocated. These supportive research findings increase the validity of the theory that reciprocated self-disclosure leads to more satisfying relationships. However, much self-disclosure research is correlational. It is usually assumed that greater self-disclosure creates more satisfaction But self-disclosure and satisfaction may be independent of each other and both could be caused by a third variable, such as the amount of time the partners spend together. Therefore self-disclosures may not cause satisfaction directly, reducing the validity of social penetration theory of self-disclosure.
research into self-disclosure has real world application. This research can help people who want to improve communication in their relationships. Romantic partners sometimes use self-disclosure deliberately to increase intimacy and strengthen their bond. Haas and Stafford found that 57% of homosexual men and women said that open and honest self-disclosure was the main way they maintained and deepened their relationships. If less-skilled partners learn to use self-disclosure then this could bring several benefits to their relationship in terms of deepening satisfaction and commitment. This shows that psychological insights can be valuable in helping people who are having relationship problems.
weakness of self-disclosure
it is not true for all cultures that increasing depth and breadth of self-disclosures leads to a more satisfying romantic relationship. Tang et al reviewed research into sexual self-disclosure. They concluded that men and women in the US, which is generally an individualist culture, self-disclose significantly more sexual thoughts and feelings than men and women in China, generally a collectivist culture. Despite lower levels of disclosure in China, levels of satisfaction were no different than those in the US. Therefore self-disclosure theory is a limited explanation of romantic relationships because it is based on findings from individualist cultures which are not necessarily generalisable to other cultures.
