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Social Penetration Theory

What happens as individuals move through the different stages of a personal relationship—from being strangers, to acquaintances, to close friends, or, perhaps, to romantic partners? Social penetration theory, developed by Irwin Altman and Dalmas Taylor in 1973, provides a theoretical framework for understanding the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of two people as they establish a close relationship. This entry summarizes the behavioral and subjective processes that occur in the development of a close relationship according to social penetration theory.

Social Penetration Processes in Relationship Development

Social penetration theory predicts that partners become more open with one another verbally (e.g., self-disclosure of thoughts and feelings), nonverbally (e.g., smiling, direct eye contact), and environmentally (e.g., moving chairs in order to be closer) as a relationship develops. In particular, social penetration theory has influenced research on self-disclosure during the different stages of a relationship. The theory assumes that people gradually reveal more personal information about themselves as a relationship progresses, allowing partners to assess how rewarding it is to interact together and to forecast the likely success of a closer relationship.

Self-Disclosure and Relationship Development

What exactly are the changes in self-disclosure as partners become more open with one another as their relationship develops? Social penetration theory assumes that the personality of the person making a disclosure is composed of numerous “items” (including facts, opinions, values, and emotions). These characteristics of personality are organized into a series of concentric circles (akin to the structure of an onion), reflecting layers of the personality. Self-disclosure is expected to increase in breadth and depth as a relationship progresses. Breadth category refers to the number of topic areas (e.g., family, religion, sex, hobbies) about the self that an individual talks about with another person. Breadth frequency refers to the number of items within a topic area (e.g., views about having children; growing-up experiences with parents, grandparents, and siblings) that someone might talk about, whereas depth refers to the level of intimacy of information about the self that might be disclosed. Greater depth of disclosure is associated with disclosing about inner layers of personality, reflecting central, emotionally sensitive, and potentially vulnerable information about the self (e.g., fears, values, and closely held beliefs). Finally, breadth time refers to the amount of time spent talking about various topic areas to the other person.

Wedge-Shaped Model of Disclosure and Social Penetration

Changes in the breadth and depth of self-disclosure can be represented as a series of wedges penetrating into one's personality. At each stage of a relationship, breadth of disclosure (i.e., how much information is revealed about the self) is expected to be greater in outer than in inner layers of personality. But as a relationship develops, these wedges widen and deepen as individuals reveal more information about themselves to the partner and at a deeper level of intimacy.

Several features of this wedge-shaped model of social penetration should be noted. First, people are expected to move only gradually from superficial to more intimate areas of disclosure as a relationship develops. People may not want to plunge too quickly into intimate exchanges (i.e., disclosing about highly personal and vulnerable information about the self early rather than later in a relationship's development) because the potential costs of rejection and being hurt are much greater at more intimate levels of exchange. People will gradually increase the disclosure of more intimate information to another person based on their subjective assessment that outcomes (rewards vs. costs) have been favorable in earlier interactions and based on a forecast that rewards are likely to be greater than costs in more intimate interactions.

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