Date of Award

Summer 1981

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Psychology

Program/Concentration

Psychology

Committee Director

Louis H. Janda

Committee Member

Thomas F. Cash

Committee Member

Barry Gillen

Call Number for Print

Special Collections LD4331.P65 S46

Abstract

Sixty-four male teenage residents (32 white, 32 black) of a juvenile detention home were exposed to intimate self-disclosure from an experimental confederate posing as a volunteer at the facility. Subjects were assigned to one of eight conditions which varied subject race (white or black), confederate race (white or black), and content of confederate disclosure (depression or substance abuse). Following the confederate's disclosure, each subject revealed in return and then completed a questionnaire measuring various dimensions of attraction to the confederate. Subjects disclosed more intimately and gave higher ratings of liking, trust, and similarity to same-race partners. Also, black subjects reported feeling less trusted by their partners. Confederates revealing substance abuse problems were perceived as less adjusted. The results were interpreted within the framework of social penetration theory. Methodological difficulties of self-disclosure research were discussed.

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DOI

10.25777/kz3g-pz63

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