Social Penetration Theory, By Irwin Altman And Dalmas Taylor

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Irwin Altman and Dalmas Taylor developed social penetration theory; the theory helps people understand human communication by closeness and self-discloser. The book describes social penetration theory by using the onion metaphor, known as the human personality, which is a multilayered onion. The outer layer of the onion is known as the public self, people’s personalities are rhetorically exchanged easily with people who met someone else immediately for the first time. For example, a persons gender, the way they dress, and occupation. The layer beneath the surfer of the onion is the known as the personal self and attitude. A person may only share information to someone who is closest to him or her such as family and friends. For example,
This semester, one of my classmates Brittany and I were working on a project together. She called me a “spoiled rich girl” because I told her a story about my pool and my pool man. This offended me because I may have grown up in a wealthy town, but I never was a “spoiled rich kid”. I told Brittany I am not a “spoiled rich kid” and she then started to point out all my belongings and started to ask me who bought them. I sank back into my seat and told her my mom. She lifted her head from the computer screen and said, “SEE, you are a spoiled rich kid”. What Brittany did not know about me was my mother is a single mom who raised three children alone. My mom had everything taken away from her, but with support of family and friends she made something of herself. I told Brittany my story, she learned not only about my story, but that I started to work at a very young age. Brittany just stared at me and started to tell me about her life story. I later found out that she has seven siblings and her father passed away at a very young age. She also told me she was once a “spoiled rich kid”, but when her father passed away she lost everything and her family became homeless. After communicating with each other for an hour, both of our perceptions about each other have change. When Brittany was leaving, she told me that she was sorry for judging me

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