Relationships - factors affecting attraction Flashcards
Self-Disclosure
Revealing personal information about yourself. Romantic partners reveal more about their true selves as their relationships develops. When used appropriately, these self-disclosures of deepest thoughts and feelings strengthen a romantic bond .
Social Penetration Theory
How Relationships Develop
Self-disclosure
Altman and Taylor
Gradual process of revealing your inner self to someone (deepest thoughts and feelings)
Involves the reciprocal exchange of information, Revealing information displays trust to comfort the other partner to reveal sensitive information also.
As they disclose more, they ‘penetrate’ further into each other’s lives, understanding each other.
Breadth and Depth
Self-disclosure
Altman and Taylor
Disclose a lot of low risk information at the start, breadth is therefore narrow as topics are ‘off-limits’
As a relationship develops, self-disclosure becomes deeper, increasing in breadth and depth, making the partners more committed.
Reciprocity
Self-disclosure
Reis and Shaver
For a relationship to develop and increase breadth and depth reciprocal elements are required with disclosure.
This balance increases feelings of intimacy and deepens relationship.
Self-disclosure
Research Support
Sprecher and Hendrick
Dating couples, found strong correlations between several measures of satisfaction and self-disclosure. Men and women who using self-disclosure were more satisfied and committed.
Laurenceau et al
Daily diary entries, married couples who self-disclosed more were linked to higher levels of intimacy.
Self-Disclosure
real-life applications
Hass and Stafford
57% of gay men and women said honest self-disclosure was the main way they maintained their relationships. People who are less skilled in relationships can apply this theory making future relationships more successful.
Self-disclosure
Cultural Differences
Tang et al individualist cultures (USA) self-disclose more sexual thoughts and feelings than those in collectivist cultures (China) Both levels of self-disclosure were linked to satisfaction.
SD is a limited explanation based on western cultures research which aren’t generalisable.
Self-disclosure
Correlation versus Causation
It’s assumed greater self-disclosure creates more satisfaction, could be the other way round. A correlation doesn’t tell us if this is a valid conclusion to draw.
