9.1.4

Factors Affecting Attraction: Self-Disclosure

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Factors Affecting Attraction: Self-Disclosure

Self-disclosure refers to the details people reveal about themselves to a partner. As breadth and depth increase, romantic partners become more committed to each other.

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Explanation of self-disclosure

  • People often don’t disclose too much about themselves early on in a new relationship.
  • But sharing things about ourselves helps people know each other better and helps to strengthen relationships.
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Altman and Taylor (1973)

  • Self-disclosure is a major concept within Altman and Taylor’s (1973) social penetration theory (SPT).
  • They studied the development of interpersonal relationships and the gradual process of revealing our inner-self to another person.
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Altman and Taylor (1973) cont.

  • They argued that trust between two intimate partners is created through the reciprocal exchange of information.
  • By increasing these disclosures, romantic partners penetrate more deeply into each other’s lives. In the process, they gain a greater understanding of each other.

Elements of Self-Disclosure: Depth and Breadth

According to Altman and Taylor (1973), self-disclosure has two elements: breadth and depth.

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Depth

  • The metaphor of a multi-layered onion is often used to illustrate the idea of depth in self-disclosure.
  • We disclose a lot about ourselves at the start of a relationship, but details are superficial (only on the surface, like the outer layer of an onion).
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Depth cont.

  • These are the kinds of details we might disclose to friends or co-workers.
  • Only as the relationship matures do we begin to disclose deeper details about ourselves.
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Breadth

  • Self-disclosure can be restricted because we see many topics as being off limits in the early stages of a relationship.
  • People don’t want to reveal too much too soon for fear of ruining the relationship.
  • This means their breadth of topics is reduced in the early stages of a relationship.

Elements of Self-Disclosure: Self-Reciprocity

Another key element of self-disclosure is reciprocity. That is, once you have disclosed something to your partner, they will disclose something to you.

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Reis and Shaver (1988)

  • Reis and Shaver (1988) view reciprocity as essential for any romantic relationship to develop.
  • As we reveal something about our true self, our partner will respond. This increases levels of understanding, empathy and other intimate thoughts and feelings.
  • This will also increase intimacy and deepen the relationship.

Jump to other topics

1Social Influence

2Memory

3Attachment

4Psychopathology

5Approaches in Psychology

6Biopsychology

7Research Methods

8Issues & Debates in Psychology (A2 only)

9Option 1: Relationships (A2 only)

10Option 1: Gender (A2 only)

11Option 1: Cognition & Development (A2 only)

12Option 2: Schizophrenia (A2 only)

13Option 2: Eating Behaviour (A2 only)

14Option 2: Stress (A2 only)

15Option 3: Aggression (A2 only)

16Option 3: Forensic Psychology (A2 only)

17Option 3: Addiction (A2 only)

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