Disclosing of verbal material as a function of information requested, information about the interviewer, and interviewee differences

• Published in: Journal of consulting and clinical psychology 1971-10, Vol.37 (2), p.187-194
• Main Authors: Doster, Joseph A, Strickland, Bonnie R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Attitude; Emotions; Human; Humans; Information; Interpersonal Relations; Interview, Psychological; Male; Mental Disorders - therapy; Physician-Patient Relations; Psychotherapeutic Processes; Psychotherapy; Self Concept; Social Desirability; Therapists; Verbal Behavior; Verbal Communication
• ISSN: 0022-006X; 1939-2117
• DOI: 10.1037/h0031966

Describes an experiment with 64 undergraduate males, differing in reported histories of self-disclosure and assessed level of need approval as measured by the self-disclosure questionnaire and the marlowe-crowne social desirability scale. Ss were given personal vs. Impersonal information by and about e at the outset of an interview, and were subsequently requested to disclose their attitudes, feelings, and experiences about public and private topics. Approval-dependent ss for the most part were not more defensive than low-need-approval ss, either in response to interviewer information models or types of topics. As expected, public topics elicited less guardedness and greater self-disclosure than private aspects of self. Contrary to expectations, low self-disclosers were most disclosing when presented with personal information about the interviewer, and more so than ss reporting high disclosure histories. Results are discussed in terms of viewing dyadic informational exchange from an interpersonal risk framework. (25 ref.)