Reciprocity in Self-Disclosure within the Psychological Interview

Abstract

24 male and 24 female college subjects were interviewed individually by a male graduate student, using standardized interviews. Intimacy of subjects' self-disclosures during the interviews was investigated in relation to interviewing style (reflecting versus disclosing), seating arrangement (presence or absence of intervening desk), sex of subjects, and the temporal sequence of the interview. Results showed a significant correlation of intimacy of self-disclosure as measured by judges' content ratings of the interviews and as measured by subjects' use of self-referrent words. Intimacy of self-disclosure did not differ significantly as a function of sex or seating arrangement but increased significantly over time in response to both reflecting and self-disclosing comments by the interviewer.

Is psychotherapy more effective when therapists disclose information about themselves?

“…17; Kaiser, 1965) who have argued that self-disclosure by the therapist can enhance the relationship between therapist and client. Moreover, it underscores previous findings that when therapists self-disclose, clients are more likely to see the therapist as friendly, open, helpful, and warm (Dies, 1973; Feigenbaum, 1977; May & Thompson, 1973; Murphy & Strong, 1972).…”

“…Instead, most past research has focused on the relation between therapist self-disclosure and the process of therapy. For example, studies have examined the relation between therapist self-disclosure and the frequency of client self-disclosure (Bundza & Simonson, 1973; Halpern, 1977; Mann & Murphy, 1975; Simonson, 1976; Simonson & Bahr, 1974; Wetzel & Wright-Buckley, 1988), the intimacy of client self-disclosure (Feigenbaum, 1977), and client perceptions of the therapist (Dies, 1973; Doster & Brooks, 1974; Feigenbaum, 1977; Fox, Strum, & Walters, 1984; Halpern, 1977; Hill, Mahalik, & Thompson, 1989; Hoffman & Spencer, 1977; Mann & Murphy, 1975; May & Thompson, 1973; Murphy & Strong, 1972). Although one study examined the possible correlation between therapist disclosure and treatment outcome (Hill et al, 1988), past researchers have never systematically varied levels of therapist self-disclosure to assess whether these disclosures can have a causal influence on therapy outcome.…”

“…2), studies in the area have focused on different types of therapist self-disclosures, making comparisons among findings difficult. For example, some researchers (e.g., Carter & Motta, 1988; Curtis, 1982a) have examined self-disclosure in its broadest form by focusing on all therapist statements that begin with the personal pronouns “I” or “we.” In contrast, other investigators have narrowed their definition to therapist self-disclosures that are similar or in response to client self-disclosures (e.g., Feigenbaum, 1977; Hill et al, 1989; Hoffman & Spencer, 1977; Murphy & Strong, 1972; Simonson, 1976; Simonson & Bahr, 1974).…”

Self-disclosure.

“…In these analogue studies, participants (usually undergraduate psychology students participating for course credit) have been presented with a disclosure stimulus embedded in a written transcript, audiotape, or videotape of a hypothetical therapy session, after which they rate their perceptions of the disclosure or of the therapist. Of 18 analogue studies of therapist self-disclosure in individual therapy, 14 reported positive perceptions of therapist self-disclosure (Bundza & Simonson, 1973; Doster & Brooks, 1974; Dowd & Boroto, 1982; Feigenbaum, 1977; Fox, Strum, & Walters, 1984; Hoffman-Graff, 1977; Myrick, 1969; Nilsson, Strassberg, & Bannon, 1979; Peca-Baker & Friedlander, 1987; Simonson, 1976; Simonson & Bahr, 1974; VandeCreek & Angstadt, 1985; Watkins & Schneider, 1989; Wetzel & Wright-Buckley, 1988), 3 reported negative perceptions (Carter & Motta, 1988; Cherbosque, 1987; Curtis, 1982), and 1 reported mixed findings (Goodyear & Shumate, 1996). In his review of this analogue literature, Watkins (1990) concluded that therapists who self-disclosed in a moderate or nonintimate way have been viewed more favorably and have elicited more client self-disclosure than therapists who did not disclose at all, who disclosed a lot, or who disclosed very intimate material.…”

The effect of therapist self-disclosure on patients' perceptions of empathy, competence and trust in an analogue psychotherapeutic interaction.

“…Other studies (e.g., Dies, 1973;Feigenbaum, 1977;Jourard & Friedman, 1970;Murphy & Strong, 1972;Vondracek& Vondracek, 1971) have shown that the use of therapist selfdisclosure favorably influences clients' perceptions necessary to the development of a strong therapeutic alliance; these findings, of course, are consistent with a humanisticexistential and/or behavioristic perspective.…”