Social penetration theory

The social penetration theory (SPT) proposes that as relationships develop, interpersonal communication moves from relatively shallow, non-intimate levels to deeper, more intimate ones.

[4] SPT states that the relationship development occurs primarily through self-disclosure—when one intentionally reveals information such as personal motives, desires, feelings, thoughts, and experiences to others.

[8] Disclosure may include sharing both high-risk and low-risk information as well as personal experiences, ideas, attitudes, feelings, values, past facts and life stories, future hopes, dreams, ambitions, and goals.

Oversharing personal information can lead to the end of the relationship, as "[s]ome partners may be ill-equipped and underprepared to know someone so intimately" (West, 2018).

Altman and Taylor proposes that there are four major stages in social penetration: De-penetration is a gradual process of layer-by-layer withdrawal that causes relationship and intimacy levels to regress and fade away.

[18] Couples falling apart reported that idiomatic communication, which can include teasing insults and other personally provocative language, have an adverse effect overall on the relationship.

[20] Several factors can affect the amount of self-disclosure between partners: gender, race, religion, personality, social status, and ethnic background.

[24] Some researchers argue that revealing our inner self to complete strangers is deemed as "cathartic exercise" or "service of confession", which allows individuals to unload emotions and express deeper thoughts without being haunted by potential unfavorable comments or judgements.

Individuals in a relationship who experience anxiety find it difficult to divulge information regarding their sexuality and desires due to the perceived vulnerabilities in doing so.

In a study published by the Archives of Sexual Behavior, socially anxious individuals generally attribute potential judgement or scrutiny as the main instigators for any insecurities in self-disclosing to their romantic partners.

Exposing one's sexual orientation can be a difficult and grueling process and because of this, many lesbians avoid disclosing their true identities to new acquaintances,[40] which leads them to turn to their family members or already existing social support systems, and can strain or reduce those relationships.

A few participants mentioned that they had initially received negative reactions from friends and family after coming out, but that as time went on, their sexual orientation came to be accepted and the relationships remained intact.

[27] Many early clinical innovations, such as lying on the couch and therapist's silence, are aimed to create an environment, an atmosphere, that allows patients to disclose their deepest self, and free them from concerns facilitating conscious suppression of emotions or memories.

[27] Patients are prone to reveal certain topics to the therapists, such as disliked characteristics of themselves, social activities, as well as relationships with friends and significant ones; and tend to avoid discussing certain issues, such as sexual-oriented experiences, immediately experienced negative reactions (e.g. feeling misunderstood or confused) due to conscious inhibition.

[27] It has been shown that the length of therapy and the strength of the therapeutic alliance (the bond between the patient and the therapist) are two major factors that affect self-disclosure in psychotherapy.

[27] As SPT indicates, the longer patients spent time with their therapists, the range of issues being discussed broadens, and more topics are marked with depth.

According to a study, SPT was found to be one of the most applicable communication theories to explain the way people make their decisions based on their ethical and moral compass.

[49] As social penetration theory suggests, disclosure reciprocity induces positive emotion which is essential for retaining close and enduring relationships.

[33] In addition, studies have shown that factors such as expertise (e.g. servers' knowledge and experience), customer-oriented attribute (e.g. listening to the concerns from the customers attentively), as well as marital status influence mutual disclosure in the restaurant setting.

(Yum & Hara, 2005)[incomplete short citation] Before social media and online dating sites, strangers communicated with each other through pen-pal organizations or face-to-face in public locations.

With the influx of CMC and the advancement of technology, strangers can decide whether they will invest time in and develop a relationship based on information that is provided in a profile.

(Yum & Hara, 2005)[incomplete short citation] In another study, it was found that "CMC dyads compensated for the limitations of the channel by making their questions more intimate than those who exhibited face-to-face" (Sheldon, 2009).

[incomplete short citation] On social media, the boundaries between interpersonal and mass communication is blurred, and parasocial interaction (PSI) is adopted strategically by celebrities to enhance liking, intimacy, and credibility from their followers.

[60] As Ledbetter and Redd notes, "During PSI, people interact with a media figure, to some extent, as if they were in an actual interpersonal relationships with the target entity.

There have been surveys conducted about how social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn, hi5, myyearbook, or Friendster affect interactions between human beings.

[61] People achieve breadth by posting about their lives and sharing surface information, and develop intimate relationships with depth by sending private Facebook messages and creating closed groups.

[63] Some scholars posit that when initiating a romantic relationship, there are important differences between internet dating sites and other spaces, such as the depth and breadth of the self-disclosed information given before they go further to one-on-one conversation.

[68] Tang and Wang (2012)[incomplete short citation], based on their research study on the relationship between the social penetration theory and blogging, discovered that "bloggers disclose their thoughts, feelings, and experiences to their best friends in the real world the deepest and widest, rather than to their parents and online audiences.

However, it was found that social penetration theory can be generalized to North American-Japanese dyads,[70] which was further supported when comparing the research to the highest level of intimacy marital communication.

SPT also focuses more on early stages of human connection, and does not take into account the various ways people get close, and how multi-layered and varied closer relationships can be.