Em Griffin defines social penetration as the process of developing deeper intimacy with another person through mutual self-disclosure and other forms of vulnerability. This theory is credited to being created and proposed by Irwin Altman and Dalmas Taylor. Altman and Taylor compares a person 's personality to that of an onion. The more you peel this onion, the more layers of that person’s beliefs, emotions, and secrets are revealed. The social penetration theory claims that the only main route to developing a closer relationship with someone is through self-disclosure. This is defined by Griffin as voluntarily sharing personal history, preferences, attitudes, feelings, secrets, etc. There is a depth and breadth of self-disclosure, in which the …show more content…
My scenario applies to friendship and the potential for a romantic relationship. The example of the onion representing one’s personality applies as well, in the sense that as we talked more we learned more about one another, but also realizing that time was required to peel deeper layers of the onion and learn more. I discovered the more I disclosed about myself the closer we got, and eventually the law reciprocity was applied and we were trading information and forming a stronger bond. In my time spent with her I have discovered a depth and breadth of penetration in our interactions, for example, she tells me about her family friends but did not reveal her past romantic experiences until …show more content…
I believe the Minimax principle of human behavior applies well to my scenario, because the more time that passes, the easier it is for me and her to get closer and strengthen our relationship. At the same time, I may also have to put in more effort and continuously keep myself open through breadth and depth of self-disclosure. There are no Comparison level of alternatives at moment because I am already satisfied with the possible outcome for this relationship. Also, I believe the Dialectical Model can relate to my relationship by us wanting certain information hidden for a time, or wanting to be around each other more