Interpersonal Communication Skills

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Interpersonal Communication Theories and Concepts: Social Penetration Theory, Self-Disclosure, Uncertainty Reduction Theory, and Relational Dialectics Theory Social Penetration Theory (SPT) Key Points • SPT is a theory about the development of “relational closeness.” • Relational closeness can progress from superficial to intimate. • Closeness develops through self-disclosure. Closeness varies according to the following factors: • Rewards/benefits • Costs/vulnerability • Satisfaction • Stability and security Self-Disclosure “Please listen carefully and try to hear what I am not saying . . . What I'd like to be able to say . . . What for survival I need to say . . . But what I can't say." - Unknown Self-disclosure is sharing with someone information which helps him or her understand you. Self-disclosure is most revealing when the sharing is in the present and least revealing when the sharing is about the past. -- D. Johnson, Reaching Out:Interpersonal Effectiveness and Self-Actualization (Boston: Allyn and Bacon) 1997 ,p.33. Self-Disclosure Characteristics • The story always represents the storyteller (the person disclosing). • SD stimulates feedback. The quality of the feedback is related to the amount and relevance of self-disclosure we receive and share with others. • Self-disclosure can be most revealing or least revealing. Self-Disclosure Definitions ** S. Jourard (in The Transparent Self) defines self-disclosure as making ourselves "transparent" to others through our communication--i.e., when we tell others things about ourselves which help them to see our uniqueness as a human being. ** Culpert distinguishes between self-description vs. self-disclosure. Self-description involves communication that levels "public layers" whereas self-disclosure involves communication that reveals more private,

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