Self Disclosure

Question 1

Outline- self disclosure

Answer 1

Self disclosure is revealing information about yourself to a partner.

Question 2

Outline- social penetration theory

Answer 2

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.

Question 3

Outline- breath and depth of self disclosure

Answer 3

• 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.

Question 4

Outline- Reciprocity of self-disclosure.

Answer 4

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.

Question 5

Evaluation- support

Answer 5

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.

Question 6

Evaluation- cultural differences.

Answer 6

-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.