factors affecting attraction: self-disclosure

attraction

the action or power of evoking interest in or liking for someone or something (can be romantic or platonic)

self-disclosure

person reveals information about themselves to another person

we tend to disclose more information to those we like, and prefer people who reveal information about themselves rather than those who don’t

this is thought to be an indication of trust that information will stay between the individuals

Altman and Taylor

suggest that as the relationship between individuals develops as the breadth and depth of interpersonal communication increases from shallow to more intimate. They called this ‘social penetration theory’ (SPT)

breadth in relationships

the types of topics that can be discussed, certain areas may not be appropriate until a certain level of friendshipde

depth in relationships

level of information about a topic that is revealed such as information that is emotionally painful

reciprocity in relationships

relationships will only develop if both individuals are active in both disclosing information and responding in an appropriate way

attraction regarding self-disclosure

individuals consider the motivations behind self-disclosure, someone who is seen to disclose to anyone, is seen as less attractive than someone who discloses to us because they see us as special

while revealing information is generally seen as improving relationships, breaking social norms or revealing information too early can have the opposite reaction, lower attraction

Sprecher and Hendrick (2004)

student dating

used a longitudinal observational study watching couples self disclosure on dates.

Men and women were found to have similar levels of self disclosure and a positive correlation was found between the amount of self disclosure and measures of the quality of the relationship (satisfaction, love and commitment)

this suggests that self disclosure is reciprocal with both partners needing to reveal information about themselves. Higher levels of self disclosure are linked to the level of attractiveness felt towards a romantic partner

limitation of research into self disclosure

it is correlational

so there may not be a causal link, rather than self disclosure causing attraction, we may self disclose more to people we are attracted to. Or perhaps there is a third factor, if we share interests with people this may lead to both increased disclosure and attraction

it is generally thought that women are better communicators, more willing to share intimate information. This could however be an example of alpha bias, exaggerating the differences between men and women.

Increased self disclosure could be culturally biased, a reflection of individualistic western ideas. Findings by Tang (2013) suggest that people in the collectivist society of China have higher relationship satisfaction with lower levels of disclosure