Relationships: Self-disclosure Flashcards
What is Self-Disclosure?
Revealing personal information about yourself (e.g. thoughts, feelings and experiences). More disclosure means more intimacy and strengthens relationships.
Who discovered social penetration theory?
Altman and Taylor (1973)
What does the social penetration theory state?
that SD is the gradual process of revealing your inner self to someone, displaying trust.
What are Altman and Taylor’s 2 elements to SD?
Breadth and Depth
What can Breadth and Depth be described as?
An Onion, sharing aspects of themselves is the top layer, yet as the relationship progresses, more onion layers are removed, representing deeper and more meaningful information
What may put the relationship at risk?
revealing lots of intimate details about yourself before building the relationship (as trust is low)
What’s the key to maintaining a relationship?
a balance between breadth and depth, and reciprocity
What’s reciprocity?
enchanging info with others for mutual benefit (e.g. other person showing understanding, empathy and revealing personal details themselves)
What did Sprcher and Hendricks study?
heterosexual couples- found correlation between satisfaction and SD. those who believed partners self-disclosed were more satisfied with relationship, so SD is important.
Who found that SD in a partner was linked to higher levels of intimacy in long-term married couples, and revere was also true.
Laurenceau et al (2005)- added academic credibility so increases confidence that SD leads to better relationships.
What’s a real life application?
Hass and Shaver (1998) found 57% of gay men and women said open and honest SD was the main way they maintained and depeened their relationship (shows it can happen with all couples and genders)
What are the cultural differences?
Tang (2013) found men and women in USA (individualistic culture) SDed more sexual thoughts then in China (collectivist). Both these levels of SD are linked to satisfaction in those cultures. Can be considered as imposed etic (as all cultures are different)
what’s another weakness?
Correlation vs Causation. It is assumed that greater SD creates or causes more satisfaction, however a correlation does not tell us whether that is a valid conclusion to draw. Most is correlational (Sprecher and Hendricks)
Why is social penetration theory limited?
unable to adequately explain the formation of all types of relationships, limited by taking a nomothetic approach, idiographic could benefit (more details and uniqueness of couples)
