Factors affecting attraction; self disclosure

Self Disclosure

Sharing personal information about ourselves

Breadth

Amount of topics

Depth

How deep you go into topics

Altman and Taylor

As breadth and depth increase, romantic partners become more committed - onion metaphor

Social Penetration Theory (Altman and Taylor)

Gradual process of revealing your inner self to someone - involved reciprocal exchange of information between partners. More information disclosed = partners ‘penetrate’ deeper into each others lives

Reciprocity of self-disclosure (Reis and Shaver)

Needs to be a reciprocal element to disclosure for a relationship to develop, partner must respond in an understanding way when you disclose something and also share disclosure - leads to intimacy and successful relationship

Supporting research for social penetration theory

Sprecher and Hendrick (2004) found a strong correlation between satisfaction and self disclosure between couples. Larenceau et al (2005) found self-disclosure and the perception of self-disclosure in a partner were linked to high levels of intimacy in married couples

Real-life applications of self-disclosure research

Hass and Stafford (1998) found 57% of gay people in their study said self-disclosure was the way they maintained their relationships - this could help less skilled partners deepen their relationship

Cultural differences

Tang et al (2013) concluded people from USA self-disclose more sexual thoughts than people from China

Satisfactory theory?

According to onion theory, relationship breakdown is caused by reduction in self-disclosure however deep self-disclosures may not be enough to rescue a relationship