Factors affecting attractiveness

Question 1

What is self disclosure?

Answer 1

-The term self-disclosure was first used by Jourard (1971).
- It refers to the extent
to which a person reveals personal information about themselves to another person
-It’s an important process in the development of romantic relationships, with greater disclosure leading to greater feelings of intimacy.

Question 2

What is social penetration theory?

Answer 2

• Altman and Taylor’s (1973) In romantic relationships, it involves the reciprocal exchange of information between intimate partners.
• When one partner reveals some personal information, they display trust; to go further the other partner must also reveal sensitive information.
• As they increasingly disclose more and more information to each other, romantic partners ‘penetrate’ more deeply into each other’s lives, and
  gain a greater understanding of each other.

-At the start low risk info is revealed and increases over time.

Question 3

A03 - Research - Sprecher

Answer 3

Sprecher et al
(2013).
-Participants were 156 undergraduate students at a U.S. university paired
into two person dyads.
- Approximately two-thirds of these dyads were female-female
and one third male-female.
- Each dyad of individuals engaged in a self disclosure task over Skype.
-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

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.

Culture bias and ungeneralisable more females - not romantic

Question 4

A03 - Helps relationships

Answer 4

Research into self-disclosure can help people who want to improve

communication in their relationships. Romantic partners probably use self-
disclosure deliberately and skilfully from time to time to increase intimacy and

strengthen their bond. Hass and Stafford (1998) found that 57% of gay men and
women in their study said that open and honest self-disclosure was the main way
they maintained and deepened their committed relationships. If less-skilled
partners, for example, those who tend to limit communication to ‘small-talk’, can
learn to use self-disclosure then this could bring several