The effects of profane and intimate disclosures on the self disclosure process

Four treatments in which a confederate offered different types and intimacy levels of self disclosure produced findings to support the contention that disclosures affect subjects' willingness to disclose and subjects' liking of confederate. The "norm of reciprocity" found in social exchange theory was not supported. That is, subjects receiving consistently high levels of disclosure responded at the same level of intimacy as subjects receiving reciprocal levels of disclosure. Additionally, it was found that profane disclosures inhibited subject disclosures and subjects' liking of the confederate.

Forty-eight subjects were randomly assigned to sixteen groups, four groups per treatment. On each of ten trials, subjects were asked to choose and answer one question from a set of seven personal questions for each member of their group. Questions were standardized and ranged in intimacy value from one (lowest) to seven (highest). In treatment one the confederate responded on each trial to questions rated highest in intimacy. In the next treatment he responded to questions rated highest in intimacy and added profanity to every other response. In the third treatment the confederate responded to questions of the same intimacy value as those he received and added profanity to every other response. In the fourth treatment he responded to questions of the same intimacy level as those he received from subjects. Likert forms were marked by all subjects on all other subjects in each group before and after treatment. An analysis of covariance was used to determine the effects of treatment on the liking of the confederate by subjects. The initial liking scores served as covariate. A Lindquist III with a covariate was used to measure the effects of treatment on intimacy levels of disclosure given to the confederate by the subjects. The question number chosen by the subject on the initial trial served as covariate.