Self Disclosure Flashcards
1
Q
Outline- self disclosure
A
Self disclosure is revealing information about yourself to a partner.
2
Q
Outline- social penetration theory
A
Altman and Taylor (1973)
- the gradual process of revealing your inner self to someone
- romantic partners have a reciprocal exchange of information as when one person reveals, so does the other. (Shows trust)
- if allows partners to penetrate deeper and know the person better.
3
Q
Outline- breath and depth of self disclosure
A
- The model is like an onion, with ‘safe’ info to reveal on the outer layer, and as we get closer in information becomes much more secret and revealing.
- it’s important not to reveal too much too soon (we want minimal breath and depth at first) as that could scare off the partner/ too much information.
- eventually we can be prepared to reveal intimate high risk information as trust has grown.
4
Q
Outline- Reciprocity of self-disclosure.
A
Reis and shaver (1988)
- aswell as developing breath and depth, there must be reciprocity of this information.
- once you reveal something, hopefully your partner will respond in a way that’s rewarding, with understanding and empathy, as well as their own piece of information.
5
Q
Evaluation- support
A
Sprecher and Hendrick (2004)
- studied heterosexual couples and found a strong correlation between measures of satisfaction and self disclosure.
- so- so self-disclosure makes people in relationships more satisfied and were more committed to their relationship.
6
Q
Evaluation- cultural differences.
A
-increasing breath and depth being beneficial is not true for all cultures.
Tang et al (2013)
-saw that men and women in the US self-disclose much more sexual thought and feelings than in China.
-both methods of self-disclosure are linked to relationship satisfaction in those cultures.
So- self disclosure is therefore a limited explanation.