Question

How does self-disclosure influence relational development? Analyze the role of self-disclosure in shaping relationships in different contexts at different times. How does faith shape a person’s self-disclosure in their friendships, family relationships, and workplace relationships? Provide concrete examples to illustrate.

Answer 1

• Communication and self-disclosure, more than feelings and commitment, are the most significant parts of any relationship whether platonic or intimate. When we share personal experiences and thoughts with other people, a bond is created and as we continue to do so, this same bond is made stronger.
• However the opposite also takes place when we stop communicating. The awkward silences and doubts leave much room for misunderstanding and eventually resentment.
• Self-disclosure is both a symptom of a healthy personality and a means of achieving personal adjustment. One achieves personality health by the unity of the real self and identified self and acts as a real self that he/she is in a position to grow.
• Self-Disclosure as a function of personal growth- One’s self grows from the consequence of being. People’s selves stop growing when they repress them. The ultimate means of becoming well adjusted, is to make ourselves “transparent,” to allow others to see all of us, in other words, to hide nothing.
• If we are not open and transparent to others, we are not open and transparent to ourselves. If we are not aware of all parts of ourselves, we cannot grow and become fully self-actualized.
• Self-disclosure as a function of attraction and trust.This is the result of fondness and trust that develop when someone relates something personal to us. When people show that they like and trust us enough to share personal information, we begin to like and trust them in return. An expression of our new feeling, we are likely to disclose something about ourselves, thus strengthening the positive feelings.
• Successful self-disclosure hinges on a variety of factors, including the type of relationship people share, the setting in which this information is relayed, and the current level of intimacy shared by those involved.
• According to social penetration theory, the process of getting to know another person is characterized by a reciprocal sharing of personal information. This back-and-forth self-disclosure influences how a relationship develops, including how quickly the relationship forms and how close the relationship becomes.
• At the beginning stages of a relationship, people tend to be more cautious about how much they share with others.
• Whether you are at the early stages of a friendship, a working partnership, or a romantic affair, you will probably be more reticent about sharing your feelings, hopes, thoughts, dreams, fears, and memories.
• As the relationship becomes closer, as you begin to share more and more with the other person, your level of self-disclosure will also increase as well.
• If someone shares a painful experience from their recent past, then you might also feel a need to relate a similar difficulty that you faced in your own life.When someone shares something intimate, it creates a sort of imbalance.
• You suddenly know a great deal about this other person, but they might not know as much about you. In order to even out this perceived inequity, you might choose to share something that will help even out the levels of shared information between you and the other individual.
• Part of the response results from the receiver’s attribution of the cause of the disclosure, which may include dispositional, situational, and interpersonal attributions.
• Let’s say your coworker discloses that she thinks the new boss got his promotion because of favoritism instead of merit. You may make a dispositional attribution that connects the cause of her disclosure to her personality by thinking, for example, that she is outgoing, inappropriate for the workplace, or fishing for information.
• If the personality trait to which you attribute the disclosure is positive, then your reaction to the disclosure is more likely to be positive. Situational attributions identify the cause of a disclosure with the context or surroundings in which it takes place.
• For example, you may attribute your coworker’s disclosure to the fact that you agreed to go to lunch with her. Interpersonal attributions identify the relationship between sender and receiver as the cause of the disclosure.
• So if you attribute your coworker’s comments to the fact that you are best friends at work, you think your unique relationship caused the disclosure.
• If the receiver’s primary attribution is interpersonal, relational intimacy and closeness will likely be reinforced more than if the attribution is dispositional or situational, because the receiver feels like they were specially chosen to receive the information.
• When the cycle of disclosure ends up going well for the discloser, there is likely to be a greater sense of relational intimacy and self-worth, and there are also positive psychological effects such as reduced stress and increased feelings of social support.
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