Self Disclosure: Evaluate

Question 1

Research support for the importance of self disclosure -

Collins and Miller (1994)

Answer 1

found that people engage in intimate disclosures tend to be liked more than people who disclose at lower levels

people like others as a result of having disclosed to them

the relationship between disclosure and liking was stronger if he/she believe that the disclosure was shared only with them

Question 2

Self disclosure in the internet: the boom and bust phenomenon
Cooper and Sportolari (1997)

Answer 2

relationships formed over the internet involve higher levels of self disclosure and attraction than face-face relationships

boom = when people reveal more about themselves earlier than they would face-face, relationships get very intense

bust = due to a lack of underlying trust and true knowledge, it’s becomes difficult to sustain

C&S: found that if started online, people tend to discover that they aren’t what they first seemed

Question 3

Self disclosure maybe greater in face-dace than online relationships -
Knop et al. (2016)

Answer 3

their study showed that members of a social group disclose intimate information more often in face - face than online

individuals aren’t as eager to reveal personal info online as expected

suggest that this may be due to the relative lack of intimacy on the internet as a context for personal self disclosure

someone disclosing prefer verbal cues e.g. eye contact and the attentive silence (these are absent online)

Question 4

Cultural differences in patterns of self disclosure -
Chen (1995)
Nakahashi (1986)

Answer 4

Chen: people in the west engage in more intimate self disclosure than non-westerners e.g. Americans more than Chinese/Japanese

cultural norms also shape how comfortable men and women are in self disclosing

Nakahashi: found that Japanese women prefer a lower level of personal conversation than Japanese men - opposite to those in the west

conclusion: self discourse is moderated by culture