While assuming that another's level of self‐disclosure, i.e., communication of intimacy, can be rewarding, it was hypothesized that the degree of intimacy of disclosure would be less powerful in affecting a recipient's attraction for a discloser than the positiveness or negativeness (valence) of disclosure. An experiment examined the effects of a male confederate's self‐disclosure (high or low degree of intimacy) on a recipient where the valence (positive or negative) of disclosure also varied. The 80 male and female subjects were assigned to one of four experimental conditions in a factorial design. It was found that recipients of disclosure demonstrated the greatest degree of attraction for the confederate when the content of the disclosure script was positive, regardless of the degree of intimacy of the disclosure.

No abstract

In an effort to develop a multidimensional theory of self-disclosure, the present research considered two dimensions of disclosure content4egree of personalness (intimacy) and valence (positiveness or negativenes-as well as gender of the discloser, timing of disclosure in relationship development, and the recipient of disclosure. In Study I, the variables of personalness and valence were manipulated through the use of prototypical disclosure statements with subjects blocked by sex. Subjects were asked to use a scale indicating phases of relationship development to rate when they would likely disclose statements. The analysis revealed significant main effects for all three factors: personalness, valence, and gender, as well as a significant interaction between personalness and valence. In Study 11, personalness and valence were again manipulated, along with blocking for sex. The variable of disclosure recipient (target) was manipulated by asking subjects to separately indicate whether or not they would disclose each statement to five targets: stranger, acquaintance, parent, friend, and spouse. The analysis revealed significant main effects for three factors: personalness, valence, and target. All possible interactions of these variables were also significant. Due to the many consistencies between the findings of these two studies and the many highly significant interactions, it was concluded that a multidimensional approach to the study of self-disclosure is both justified and required.

Assuming that another's self-disclosure can be rewarding, it was hypothesized that attraction for one who disclosed a relatively high amount of personal information would be greater than attraction for a low discloser when the disclosure was perceived as being appropriate. Also, it was hypothesized that persons of high self-esteem may be more attracted to a high discloser than persons of moderate or low self-esteem. An experiment examined the effects of a confederate's self-disclosure (high or low degree of personal content) on a recipient. Greater attraction was demonstrated toward the confederate in the low disclosure condition, and her behavior was perceived to be more appropriate in this condition. Persons who participated in each of the experimental conditions were divided into three self-esteem categories. Those with intermediate levels of self-esteem were found to be the most receptive to a disclosing other, followed by subjects of low, and finally high self-esteem.

Despite the fact that various investigators and theoreticians (e.g., Egan, 1970;Jourard, 1963) have stated that open and direct interpersonal communication is essential for healthy human relations, self-disclosure is not uniformly practiced in western society. In fact, Gibb (1971) and Campbell and Dunnette (1968) have reported that, even when people are taught communication skills in laboratory groups, the use of such open and direct communicative behaviors often does not transfer to the participants' daily interpersonal environments. Gibb (1971) further suggests that communication skills may not generalize to &dquo;real-world&dquo; settings because of the possibility of adverse reactions to self-disclosure by others in the discloser's environment.Lazarus's (1966) views on psychological stress and coping mechanisms can be used to generate a theory which relates to AUTHORS' NOTE: