Relationships and Breakup

* When two parties disclose personal information with each other the consensus is that the two persons will like each other more. (Rowland Miller, 2012) * Disclosure within a relationship is beneficial by raising intimacy, trust and closeness levels between two partners (Dindia & Fitzpatrick, 1985: Duck, 1994a) * Strangers who open up to each admire each other more than couples who reveal less personal information to each other (Slatcher, 2010) * That being said, this shows that there is a very strong bond when disclosing personal information to each other and that it plays a large role when building a relationship. * Social penetration theory (Altman & Taylor,1973) * New relationships have a large breadth of topics discussed, while the depth of the topics is very shallow. Self-disclosure is rare to be found at this level of relationship. Break ups * If a person’s past relationship was broken off early within the relationship, that is the depth of the topics discussed was very shallow and little self-disclosure occurred, than it would be safe to say that within a new relationship they would seek that acceptance and self-disclosure earlier on. They never really got to disclose personal information with their ex, therefore they may pursue that self-disclosure more ambitiously within the new relationship. * If a person’s past relationship was broken off at a later stage where self-disclosure between two partners was a common occurrence the parties may misattribute the separation with rejected disclosed information. Within new relationships it may take longer for them to disclose information with their new partners. Revised Filter Theory New Relationships Hypotheses/Questions we want to ask: * Does the denial of disclosed information from previous relationships have an outcome on newly formed relationships? That is, is it harder to disclose information to new partners? Does it take longer? * If past the past relationships ended early on before self-disclosure could occur. Do people pursue self-disclosure earlier on in the newly formed relationship?