factors affecting attraction: self disclosure

Question 1

altman and taylor

what is self-disclosure

onion analogy

Answer 1

revealing personal info abour yourself to someone else.

Question 2

define what is breadth and depth of self-disclosure

Answer 2

breadth - how much diff info we reveal
depth - how much of a detailed account of the info we reveal.

Question 3

describe breadth and depth of self disclosure

onion

Answer 3

researchers used analogy of onion:
Information could be low risk/ superficial to begin
(outer layers) ;breadth is limited as many topics are ‘off limits’ in early stages

but as relationship progresses we self disclosure becomes deeper; reveal high risk info e.g. attidtudes, painful memories etc; depth incresases

(as both increases, partners become more commited)

Question 4

revealing too much at the start thre……….. the rela….

Answer 4

threatens the relationship.

Question 5

what is reciprocity of self disclosure

Answer 5

self disclore encourages reciprocal disclosure; once self disclosure increases partner responds with there feeelings, thoughts- increases feelings and deepen relationship

Question 6

what is social penetration theory

Answer 6

gradual process of revealing your deepest inner thoughts/self to someone else. self dislose more and more as relationship progresses - ‘i trust you’, reciprocal exchange of info

Question 7

limitation

ao3: cultural differnces

Tang et al.

Answer 7

researchers reviewed studies and found:
people generally in USA (individualist cultures) self disclosed more sexual thoughts and feelings than China (collectivists) . Despite lower lvls of closure in china, satisfactory lvls in relationships were genreally similar in both.
Self disclosure theory is a limited explanation of romantic relationships as findings from western cultures are not generlisable to others - CULTURALLy biased

Question 8

ao3: real world application - can help people improve communication in there relationships

Stafford and Haas

Answer 8

Partners use self disclosure to increase imitamcy and bond.
Researchers found that 57% of homosexual men and women said that self.d deepened their bond. If less skilled partners e.g. those who have limited convo i.e. small talk, learn to use self.d this could improve satisfaction and commitment in the relationship.
Real world value and help struggling relationships.

Question 9

what is depenetration

Answer 9

self disclose less as dissatisfied partners disengage from relationship

Question 10

RESEARCHERS: Sprecher

research support

counterpoint at the end: cor….

Answer 10

Sprecher found that men and women who used self disclosure were more satisfied and commited in their relationships. In a later study, he found that when self disclosure was reciprocal - each partner self disclosed after the other- relationships were closer than unreciprocated self disclosure.
This increases the validity that reciprocated self disclosure leads to more satisfying relationships.

Counterpoint: Much self disclosre research is correlation.
Difficult to determine cause and effect.
Self disclosure and satisfaction may be independent of each other.
Maybe the more satisfied partners are the more they self disclose rather than the opposite.
Decrseaes validity