Self-Disclosure in Interpersonal Communication
“Please listen carefully and try to hear what I am not saying . . . What I'd like to be able to say . . . What for survival I need to say . . . But what I can't say." Unknown Through my self-disclosure, I let other know my soul. They can know it, really know it, only as I make it known. In fact, I am beginning to suspect that I can't even know my own soul except as I disclose it. I suspect that I will know myself "for real" at the exact moment that I have succeeded in making it known through my disclosure to another person. Sidney Jourard, The Many Me's of the Self-Monitor What is Self-Disclosure? Self-Disclosure is one of the major concepts of the Social Penetration Theory. It refers to the gradual process of unfolding ones’ inner self. This process, in the writings of Altman and Taylor, is possible only after an established intimacy and closeness. It is quite difficult for a person to divulge all his/her secrets to another person he barely knows. And it...