Why do we Self-Disclose?

Paper Summary:

This essay explores the possibilities of the varying factors that might affect the probability of one disclosing personal information and thoughts to another.

From the Paper:

"Not revealing personal information reduces the chances of others using that information against oneself but inevitably, people still reveal information about themselves on a day to day basis, especially to family and friends, and sometimes even strangers or acquaintances for various reasons. Derlega (1987) describes self-disclosure as the process of telling another person about oneself; honestly sharing thoughts and feelings that may be personal or private. To a large extent, having different personalities, gender and age does affect one's reason to self-disclose. However, this does not exclude the considerations that obligation may take the form of other situational factors, such as the studies by Gouldner in 1960, Bradac, Hosman, & Tardy in 1978 and Chaikin & Derlega, in 1974a (cf. Bradac, Hosman & Tardy, 1980), which show that if one were to disclose intimate information about oneself to another, the recipient is obliged to respond in a similar manner or they might run the risk of being negatively judged. Derlega and Grzelak (1979) offered a list of five different categories of possible purposes of self-disclosure, namely self-expression, self-clarification, social control, social validation and relationship development (cf. Prager, Fuller, & Gonzalez, 1989) which it will be discussed in relation to personality, gender and age factors in this essay."

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