Self Disclosure Experiment

Everyone has a limit on how much self-disclosure they reveal, especially to an individual that is a stranger to them. However, self-disclosure becomes more reveling when that individual becomes more than a stranger and starts to feel comfortable with that person and someone whom they can trust. There were two experiments that took place in the study. The first experiment was based on the eye contact and self-disclosure of the experimenter and the subject. The second experiment was the effects of the experimenter’s self-disclosure. On both studies, the purpose was to see how much the subject will self-disclose and respond when the experimenter approach them in a variety of ways (Jourard & Friedman, 1970). The hypothesis for both experiments

There were 24 males and 24 females. These college students were divided into three groups and were interviewed with a three degree distance. Each group had the same number of student and had the same proportion of males and females. Each group were asked different tasks. Group one had to disclose something about themselves in a tape recorder while the experimenter was not in the room. On second group, the subject had to self-disclose with the experimenter in the room, however there were no eye contact between the experimenter and the subject. The third group needed to self-disclose and the experimenter did provide eye contact with the subject. On all three groups, the experimenter did not self- disclose anything about himself. The independent variable for experiment one was the absence, presence and continuous of eye contact between the experimenter and the subject. The dependent variable was the time spent for the subject to self-disclose and the duration of the

These student were placed into four groups. In each group, they were asked to fill out what their impressions and feelings were of the experimenter and to answer eight questions. The subject had a choice to answer the questions while being interviewed by the experimenter. Each group had the same task, however in group one, the subject was the control who had to answer the questions. In group two, the subject would answer the question and the experimenter would touch the subjects back. The third group had to answer the questions, but the experimenter would reveal information about himself and self-disclose before the subject would answer the questions. On the fourth group, the experimenter would self-disclose and proceed with the same procedures as group three, but for this group, the experimenter would touch the subject in the back. After the experiment, the subjects were asked to fill out their impressions and feelings. The independent variable for experiment two was the touching and the self-disclosure of the experimenter. The dependent variable was the time spent and duration of the subject’s self-disclosure.

The results of the impressions of the experimenter and the experiment were higher in the fourth group with 455.5 and lower in the first group with 88.8. The impressions for the second group was 121.7 and 372.53 for group three. Impressions were high in the third group, but