Rewards and Cost of the Social Penetration Theory

An interesting concept that was talked about in lecture is the social penetration theory. This theory was formulated by two psychologist named, Irwin Altman and Dalmas Taylor.  The theory states that interpersonal communication changes over time. Relationships start from non-intimate and shallow conversations and change into a deeper conversation.  The onion analogy is used with this theory because as you start to dive deeper into conversations you peel back the different layers of who the person is, like an onion. People in general have these different layers to their personality which are revealed depending on who the person is talking too. Their more prone to reveal different levels of their personality depending on the rewards and costs. Rewards and costs are dependent on the person their communicating with. If someone feels they will be liked more, which is a reward to some, they will choose to reveal deeper information about who they are as a person. However, if the person feels vulnerable they might choose to disclose personal information. The journal article I found relating to this concept is by Jih-Hsin Tang and Chen-Chung Wang. The article, “Self-Disclosure Among Bloggers: Re-Examination of Social Penetration Theory, talks about a study done with Taiwanese bloggers and how much they disclose on their blog. They found that most bloggers, “seem to express their interest and experiences more often than private information, such as financial matters.” It seems they would rather express more intimate information to their best friends rather than their parents and online audience.  One of the reasons why is because of how information on the internet is permanent and can be easily recorded compared to talking to someone face to face. When comparing this to my life, I totally agree what is being stated in the journal article. Especially, when talking about communicating with best friends and parents online. My parents live overseas so right now I’m by myself in State college. I disclose more information to my best friends than I do with my parents. I believe the reason why I do this is because I don’t want my parents to worry. Furthermore, when talking to my friends I feel its easier to talk to them because of their support doesn’t cause them any distress. My parents support me a lot, but making them worry about my hard times at school is more of a cost than a reward. When talking to friends I always receive replies saying not to worry because they know I can overcome the obstacles I face during my time here. They aren’t going to be as worried as my parents who would do anything for me if I asked. The support I receive from my friends is a reward because they don’t have to worry about me. On the other hand telling my parents of these hardships would be more of a cost because it would cause them distress worrying about me being in a different country. It’s interesting applying the social penetration theory to online communication because it definitely changes what people disclose when communicating with different people.

Link:

http://online.liebertpub.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/doi/full/10.1089/cyber.2011.0403