relationships: factors affecting attraction - self disclosure ao1

Question 1

what is self disclosure

Answer 1

• gradually revealing intimate information to another person
  eg likes dislikes interests hopes and fears
• maj of the time we are wary about disclosing too much too soon
• helps to dev relationship past inital attraction

Question 2

who proposed social penantration theory

Answer 2

altman and taylor 1973

Question 3

explain why self disclosure is limited at the start

Answer 3

• altman and taylor said its a gradual process of revealing your inner self to someone else
• revealing info is a sign of trust
• partner then has to reciprocate and reveal personal information

Question 4

explain how penantaration leads to development

Answer 4

as romantic partners increasingly disclose more info they penantrate more deeply into eachothers lives
depenantration describes how dissatisfied partners self diclose less as they disengage from the relationship

Question 5

onion metaphor

Answer 5

process of self disclsoure likened to peeling back the layers of an onion which posses both breadth and depth

Question 6

what is narrow at the start of a relationship

Answer 6

breadth is narrow
bc if too much info is revealed at the start it may be off putting and one partner might decide to quit the relationship

Question 7

what increases as relationship progresses

Answer 7

depth increases
- as relationship develops more layers are revealed
- we are more likely to reveal more intimate information including painful memories, secrets etc

Question 8

what did reis and shaver 1988 say what was needed on top of breadth and depth of self disclosure for relationship to develop

Answer 8

must be reciprocity
- successful relationships will involve disclosure from one partner which is recieved sensitively by the other partner
- this should lead to self disclosure from the other partner
- leads to greater intimacy going forward