Social Penetration Theory And The Theory

The Social Penetration Theory is an explanation by two communication theorists, Irwin Altman and Dalmas Taylor. This theory attempts to explain how relational closeness develops. Since we all have hundreds of different relationships, with thousands of different people during our lifetime, it is an important theory to study and understand.

Moreover, Frederickson goes further in her research, claiming that love itself may reshape an individual. That is why she claims, “love can affect you so deeply that it reshapes you from the inside out and by doing so alters your destiny for further loving moments” (Frederickson, 121). The truth is that in order to become an individual, a person needs to communicate and interact with other people and the world around. People often agree that it is mainly communication with families and friends that shape person’s character and individuality. Every interaction that occurs in person’s daily life strongly affects people’s characters and their vision of the world. That is why communication or interaction with people may be viewed as one of the main things that shapes people’s identity.

Nona Mitoyan COM 200 October 3, 2015 Professor Williams Interpersonal Lens Outline I. Working Definition of Lens: Whether verbal or nonverbal, interpersonal communication is the exchange of symbols between individuals. Breaking the term into two, we get “inter” and “personal,” meaning interpersonal communication is both personal and connecting between two or more communicators. II. Communication Phenomenon for Analysis: I will use an interpersonal lens to examine the progressive relationship between Lucas and Peyton in One Tree Hill.

Social Penetration theory attempts to explain the differences in communication in relation to the depth of interpersonal relationships. “Irwin Altman and Dallas Taylor, the theory states that relationships begin and deepen through self-disclosure. In the beginning, people establish

Throughout the sports world there are many different players that have signature gesture that they are know for, but what people sometimes look past is that some of these famous gestures are actually their way to profess their faith. Some of the most famous gestures that are the athletes way to profess their faith and show the world what they believe in are gesture such as Tim Tebow’s thinking man pose or Stephen Curry’s point after making a basket. These are all very well recognized athletes that profess their faith on a very highly view stage where millions of people can see. To young kids who are looking from the outside at these famous and well know athletes profess their faith throughout it all and not to let the fact that people on

The amount of personal information that individuals choose to reveal about themselves online has become the topic of much debate within the realm of Socio-Psychology researchers. Self-Disclosure is the process in which an individual reveals personal information, verbal or non-verbal communication, about them self; a process controversially crucial to creating a bond of intimacy within a relationship. Self-Disclosure develops by the breadth or variety of topics of information discussed and by the depth or personal significance of the topics discussed through a systematic process of communication changes also known as Social Penetration Theory (Miller, 2011). The Information Age is a period throughout history that characterized a shift from traditional industry of machine manufacturing processes to an economy based on information computerization. According to researcher A.N. Joinson (2007), “Both experimental and anecdotal evidence suggests that computer-mediated communications (CMC) and general Internet-based behavior can be characterized as containing high levels of self-disclosure.” The Information Age led to an increase in individuals who elect to self-disclose and has shortened the time duration in which it takes for personal information to be communicated; therefore, self-disclosure on the internet may not depend on intimacy to develop a relationship as it does in

The complex nature of crime in contemporary Australian society is often attributed to various social explanations of crime, wherein there is an interaction between the individual and the surrounding environment. Strain Theory is a sociological and criminological idea advanced by Robert Merton, articulating the social strain inflicted on people to conform to idealistic expectations. In this way, crime can be empirically explained through the key tenets of Strain Theory. The objective of this essay is to evaluate why the societal pressure placed on individuals leads to criminal behaviours through ideas of lack of resources, unstable relationships and minority groups.

Just as self concept seemed a vicious circle, where this affects that and that effects this; relational development is the same. Relational development can alter our lives and our communication, while communication issues can alter our relational development and our lives. The relational perspective is a pragmatic one and focuses on the continuance of communication processes through relationships. (Rogers, 2004.) Relationships go through a series of stages. The initial and first encounter to a relationship is called the initiating stage. While in this stage, two people attempt to create favorably impressionable first impressions. In this stage you will look for cues about the other person’s personality, attitude, beliefs, and values so that you can progress the relationship. If the relationship continues and impressions are favorable than the two people move to the second stage, also known as the experimenting stage. In this stage people reveal themselves further but not completely since the stage is still a precarious one. If a common ground and understanding of each other is obtained then the relationship moves to the next stage, the intensifying stage. In this stage shared experiences becomes common and self disclosure is open. The next stage is the integrating stage, this is where the individuals usually become a couple. They have shared interests and attitudes, and sometimes talk or act alike. The other individual becomes like your other half. If things go awry than relationships often shift to the circumscribing stage. This is when couples start to self disclose less and less to the other person. Then comes the stagnating stage. At this point there is no communication and no activity between the two people. Sometimes there is an

The Social Penetration Theory, adapted by Irwin Altman and Dalmas Taylor, is based on the idea that people are layered like onions, (Griffin 133). These layers are made up by different things that hide an individual’s true self. One’s true self can include his or her hopes, fears, likes, dislikes, aspirations and other things that one thinks about. For individuals to become close, they must get past all of the facades and disclose their true selves to one another. In the movie The Breakfast Club, each of the main characters exemplifies this theory. At the beginning of the movie, characters Claire, John, Andrew, Allison, and Brian are each individuals who separate themselves from one

Social Penetration Theory was one of the first steps in moving our relationship forward. It allowed us to move from normalized communication to a more intimate form of communication. Essentially taking our relationship from friend level and moving it to a mutual level of intimacy for each other. Social Penetration Theory was conceptualized by Irwan Altman and Dalmas Taylor and illustrates a theory as to the pattern of relationship development. According to Altman and Taylor, intimacy involves more than physical intimacy; other dimensions of intimacy include intellectual and emotional, and the extent to which a couple shares activities.

Theory explains why as relationships develop, communication moves from less intimate levels to more intimate, more personal levels.

Two big pieces of this social penetration theory puzzle are depth and breadth of self-disclosure. The depth of self-disclosure is how deep someone can penetrate the layers of the onion or how deep your self-disclosure goes. The more intimate someone is in the relationship the more depth of self-disclosure that relationship will have. Where-as the breadth of self-disclosure is the range of topics in which disclosure takes place within a relationship. Younger people tend to have more breadth where-as the older generation tends to take part

The structure of social relations is of utmost importance when analyzing the factors that constitute one’s personality. Sociological theorist, Georg Simmel, explains the development of individuality through the expansion and subsequent differentiation of one’s social circles and how this expansion affects the individual. Simmel asserts, “Individuality in being and action generally increases to the degree that the social circle encompassing the individual expands” (Simmel, et al., 2012, p. 366). In other words, the development of one’s individuality is predicated upon the gradual expansion and differentiation of the overarching social circle in which one is a member. Simmel

Relationships are like onions, they take time to open up and you have to peel layer by layer to get to the center. Life happens, people come and go and the relationships that are made happen over time. A relationship is built over prolonged exposure to someone and they do not happen over night. When you first meet a person most judge, they look at a person’s appearance, their behavior, and their overall attitude. But as time goes on and you get to know someone on a more personal level you learn whom he or she really is. This idea is called the social penetration theory. Irwin Altman and Dalmas Taylor established the social penetration theory in 1973. They created this theory to have a better understanding of intimate relationships between two people. The social penetration theory is important to the communication process because it looks at how relationships develop and how over time relationships evolve from where they stared by self-disclosure. With the social penetration theory as the main focus and with the support from communication studies, this paper is assessing the formation of new relationships.

In this research, Yea- Wen and Masato Nakazawa (2012) measured how the types of friendship, friendship levels and cultural backgrounds influences the amplitude of self-disclosure between intercultural and intracultural friendships. The objective of this study was to analyze how Self-disclosure role varies and plays an important part in the development of a relationship. The study deals with the Social Penetration theory which helps us to understand the type of emotional relationship in which individuals move from superficial communication to a more intimate communication. Self – disclosure plays a prominent role to develop any kind of relationship. In this case, it will help to reduce the uncertainty of an intercultural relationship.