The Social Penetration Theory Of Interpersonal Communication

The Social Penetration Theory explains why as relationships develop, communication moves from less intimate levels to more intimate, more personal levelsI can apply this theory to my professional as well as personal

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.

According to Adler and Proctor (2011), it talks about responding to transgressions and some examples to that would be coming to an acceptance, rejection and discussion. In the movie “Inside out” we discover how all the emotions try to steer the way to control the little girl “Riley” mind but one specific character by the name of “Joy” is basically the one in charge of them all and tries to take on more of the responsibility in situations. Throughout the movie something happens to Riley and her emotions

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

Social penetration theory believes relationships can progress from platonic to intimate through increasing self-disclosure (West & Turner, 2010, pp. 168-169). During the initial stages of a relationship, self-disclosure needs to be reciprocated, in order for trust to form (Wright, 2017). Any relationship can evolve by using social penetration theory; it is not specific to any one type of relationship. However, talking about sensitive topics is not easy, and can lead to a person feeling vulnerable. Consequently, it is imperative, during the initial stages of a relationship, that self- disclosure is reciprocated, in order to form trust (West & Turner, 2010, pp. 168-169 & Wright, 2017). Social penetration theory predicts nonintimate

Your best and closest friends where not always your friends, at some point they were stragers. We take gradual steps toward building friends that become deeper and more intimate along the way. When we take these steps we are applying the Social Penetration Theory (SPT). SPT was developed by Irwin Alman and Dalmas Taylor and states that “the process of develping deeper intimacy with another person through mutual self-disclosure and other forms of vulnerability”(p. 97). SPT expects self-disclosure to gain an equal response from the other person making it recipocal. The reciporciay can be strategicly thought out and planned to gain a certain result and can also be spontaneous. Spontaneous self-disclosure happens when one discloses personal

On Monday 23 May 2016, at approximately 1339hrs, I 6246 Leading Rate Joseph S was in my office at the Welfare/Housing department located at #31 St. Vincent Street Port of Spain. Present in the office at the time was Sgt Cassie R and L/Cpl Neptune. Whilst performing my daily duties in the office, I was about to use the telefax machine to make a copy of a document which is not an unusual function carried out by the members of the office. As I was about to do so, I was stopped by Sgt Cassie who said “yuh can’t copy nuttin they.” Being a bit confused about his uttered word I asked the question “why Sgt Cassie.” He then replied in a loud tone “don’t make no fucking copy LR.” I responded to the Sgt by saying “I am a grown woman bordering Petty

According to Irwin Altman and Dalmas Taylor, Social Penetration Theory is defined as the process of bonding that moves a relationship from superficial to more intimate. The theory can be perceived as a game plan for people, especially in a relationship. This can give you guidance on how to interact with individuals in order to establish a stable, and developing relationship through interpersonal communication. For example, when you encounter someone whom you’ve never met before, you may ask some questions to learn a little bit about this person. We tend to exchange information back and forth by asking people questions. Essentially, this is what social penetration theory does. It looks at how we exchange and share information with people that we have never met before and how we self- disclose. Self- disclosure can be separated into the theories three main concepts: depth, breadth, and reciprocity. These important concepts of Social Penetration Theory were clearly shown when I witnessed an unusual conversation between my roommate, Maddy and a young man named Nick. A typical conversation, turned into an extremely uncomfortable situation for all of us. Something we definitely did not expect.

The Social Penetration Theory proposes the idea that as our relationships develop, communication goes from being very basic and superficial, to being more intimate and fulfilling. There are five stages in the theory, the first being the Orientation stage, which usually means small talk, and sticking to conversational norms. The Exploratory stage is when two friends reveal their opinions on things such as politics, music, and education, but most relationships do not exceed this stage. The Affective stage is when two people get to know more about each other’s personal experiences. Things like inside jokes, and intimate conversations are what encompass the Affective stage. The Stable stage in a relationship is when individuals share their deepest thoughts, morals, ideas, and experiences. Stable relationships are very open, honest, and aim to benefit each person. The last stage, which is optional, is the De-penetration stage, which is when the relationships’ drawbacks exceed the benefits, which results in the end of the relationship.

The author will analyse scenario 5 (appendix a) as he has no practical experience of Do Not Resuscitate Orders (DNAR) and believes this is an excellent opportunity to professionally develop himself in order to improve future patient care. This assignment will reflect, in relation to paramedic practice, on legal, professional and ethical frameworks whilst also considering interpersonal communication theories that impact on the delivery of care. Legal frameworks, including the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 and Human Rights Act (HRA) 1997, will be scrutinised alongside professional frameworks offered by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), such as the Standards of conduct, performance and ethics (2012). The impact of these frameworks upon duty of care, consent, capacity and best interests will be examined whilst various interpersonal communication theories will be explored, including transactional analysis and the influence of verbal and non-verbal communication. A conclusion will then be offered with well-supported reasoning for this decision.

For a young child, telling a secret to the person he or she likes is a big deal. But the secrets that are told are minor, probably about a favorite item or candy. Not knowing at the time but social penetration theory is going on. Information about oneself is communicated to friends, loved ones, and acquaintances on a daily basis, sometimes without knowing we are revealing personal information. As we get older we knowingly reveal information to a person that we have a connection with. Social Penetration Theory is, “The process of developing deeper intimacy with another person through mutual self-disclosure and other forms of vulnerability” (Griffin, Ledbetter, Sparks, 2015). The closer we are to an individual the more information we reveal, the greater the bond becomes. This theory is important to understand because it sets the framework for how we reveal ourselves to others and helps set up other communication theories. In the next sections we will take a closer look into the theoretical overview on social penetration theory and also, discuss the synthesis of scholarship.

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 second stage is exploratory affective exchange. This is when commutation between these two strangers is more open and comfortable, less scripted. This is because the information that they share goes farther than just a short conversation ( Beauchamp and Baran, 2017). This will then allow the two people to then break the ice between them. If they then realize that this stage is rewarding they will then be more giving with moving forward to the next stage in Social Penetration Theory, which will be building a relationship (Smith, 2002).

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.