Self-Disclosure: The Willingness to Disclose Personal Information and Its Implications

After Module 4 and learning about self-disclosure and how it impacts one’s daily interpersonal skills, my interest on the particular topic will not escape me. Self-disclosure is something that I believe I need a bit more knowledge on because I am young and sometimes naïve. I think that learning about the impact on what it could have on myself and others around me whether they are positive or negative now that I have been through my first year of college could make an impact on how I can grow now that I am practicing the skills demonstrated throughout this semester with my use of interpersonal communication. Self-disclosure is defined as personal information, verbally shared intentionally, that another person would have trouble finding out without being told as introduced in chapter 8 of IPC by West and Turner. For my research I will be looking at different subjects such as how self-disclosure in the female race compares to males and how they affect their gender norms, how communication is affected by self-disclosure, and the negative consequences of self-disclosure. In my current research, I have found several studies and articles that will guide me to the direction that I desire to be while learning about disclosure and how it could possibly affect my future.

The willingness to disclose personal information about one's thoughts, feelings, and experiences has been examined as a function of such factors as demographic characteristics, mental health, personality traits, and the social situation. (See Chaikin & Derlega, 1974a, and Cozby, 1973, for literature reviews.) Topics of self-disclosure and how they affect women differ from men when it comes to trusting and honesty and I feel that the cause of it comes from different “norms” t...

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...., and Alan L. Chaikin. "Norms Affecting Self-Disclosure in Men and Women." Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 44 (1976): 376-180. Print.

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