self disclosure Flashcards
SELF-DISCLOSURE:
The term self-disclosure was first used by clinical psychologist Sidney Jourard (1971).
It refers to the extent to which a person reveals personal information about themselves - their intimate thoughts, feelings and experiences to another person.
Self-disclosure is an important process in the development of romantic relationships, with greater disclosure leading to greater feelings of intimacy.
People tend to prefer those who disclose intimate details to those who disclose themselves to a lesser extent.
Furthermore, people reveal more intimate information to those they like and also tend to like those to whom they have revealed intimate information (Collins and Miller, 1994).
Research on self-disclosure:
Research on self-disclosure makes a distinction between self-disclosure given (i.e. disclosing one’s own personal thoughts, feelings and experiences) and self-disclosure received (i.e. information disclosed by the other).
Research (e.g. Sprecher et al., 2013) has typically shown that the level of self-disclosure received in a romantic relationship was a better predictor of liking and loving than the level of self-disclosure that is given.
Sprecher’s research also found that self-disclosure was positively related to relationship stability.
In a study of 50 dating couples, Sprecher found that the amount of overall disclosure in the relationship was predictive of whether the couples stayed together for longer than four years.
Different types of self-disclosure:
The relationship between self-disclosure and relationship satisfaction is not straightforward because self-disclosure takes many different forms.
For example, disclosing one’s taste in music and disclosing one’s inner fears and fantasies are quite different.
Researchers have found that it is not self-disclosure per se that predicts relationship satisfaction, but the type of self-disclosure.
Sprecher (1987) found that disclosure of, for example, experiences of personal disappointments and accomplishments, and information about previous sexual relationships, have a greater influence on relationship satisfaction than more neutral types of self-disclosure.
Norms of self-disclosure:
There are norms about self-disclosure.
For example, there is the norm that people should engage in only a moderately personal level of self-disclosure in the early stages of a relationship.
Derlega and Grzelak (1979) suggest that these should be neither so personal that the disclosure appears indiscriminate for disclosing them to a relative stranger, nor so impersonal that the listener is unable to know the disclosure better as a result.
The norm of reciprocity governs much of our social behaviour, i.e. people expect others to return the services they provide, be it money, favours or, in romantic relationships, self-disclosure.
There is considerable evidence (e.g. Berg and Archer, 1980) that people possess a norm of reciprocity, concerning self-disclosure.
The more one person discloses to another, the more disclosure is expected in return.
Key study: Sprecher et al.(2013):
aim
Sprecher et al. were interested in whether reciprocal self-disclosure was more influential in determining attraction than one-sided self-disclosure and listening.
Key study: Sprecher et al.(2013): Procedure:
Participants were 156 undergraduate students at a U.S. university paired into two-person dyads.
Approximately two-thirds of these dyads were female-female and one-third male-female.
Each dyad of unacquainted individuals engaged in a self-disclosure task over Skype. In the reciprocal condition, dyad members immediately took turns asking questions and disclosing.
In the non-reciprocal condition, one person asked questions in the first interaction while the other person disclosed.
Then the two switched roles for the second interaction (i.e. extended reciprocity).
After each interaction, the researchers assessed liking, closeness, perceived similarity, and enjoyment of the interaction.
Findings:
Individuals in the reciprocal condition dyads reported more liking, closeness, perceived similarity, and enjoyment of the interaction than did those in the non-reciprocal dyads after the first interaction.
This difference remained after participants in non-reciprocal dyads switched disclosure roles during the second interaction.
This showed that turn-taking self-disclosure reciprocity is more likely to lead to positive interpersonal outcomes than extended reciprocity.
EVALUATION/ DISCUSSION
SELF-DISCLOSURE:
Research support for self-disclosure
The norms of self-disclosure run deep
Cultural differences in patterns of self-disclosure
EVALUATION/ DISCUSSION
Research support for self-disclosure
A meta-analysis by Collins and Miller (1994) provided research support for the importance of self-disclosure.
They found that people who engage in intimate disclosures tend to be liked more than people who disclose at lower levels, and people like others as a result of having disclosed to them.
The relationship between disclosure and liking was stronger if the recipient believed that the disclosure was shared only with them rather than being shared indiscriminately with others.
This supports the central role that self-disclosure plays in the development and maintenance of romantic relationships.
EVALUATION/ DISCUSSION - The norms of self-disclosure run deep
Tal-Or and Hershman-Shitrit (2015) showed that the relationship between gradual self-disclosure and attraction applies not only to real-life romantic relationships, but also to liking reality TV contestants.
Reality TV shows such as Big Brother tend to be characterised by the very intimate self-disclosure of contestants early on in the shows.
This rapid self-disclosure appears to conflict with what happens in everyday interactions, where such intimate self-disclosure is welcomed only when it evolves gradually.
However, Tal-Or and Hershman-Shitrit found that, just as in real relationships, viewers preferred those individuals whose self-disclosure evolved gradually and then became more intimate.
EVALUATION/ DISCUSSION - Cultural differences in patterns of self-disclosure
Cultures differ in the extent to which various topics are considered appropriate for conversation.
In the West, people typically generally engage in more intimate self-disclosure than do non-Westerners.
Americans, for example, disclose more than do Chinese or Japanese (Chen, 1995).
Cultural norms also shape how comfortable men and women are in self-disclosing.
For example, Nakanishi (1986) found that Japanese women prefer a lower level of personal conversations than do Japanese men.
This is opposite to the self-disclosure patterns typically found in the West, where women prefer more disclosure than do men.
This suggests that the importance of self-disclosure as an aspect of attraction is moderated by the influence of culture.
