SOCIAL PENETRATION THEORY

The social penetration theory states that as relationships develop, communication starts to grow and intimacy occurs, it then goes deeper and deeper into private and personal matters.

We all have personality’s structures in which it is multi-layered; like an onion. Both depth and breadth are associated to the Onion Model. The outer layer is the public self, where we share a wide variety of topics (breadth). This usually happens in the early stage of relationship while on the other hand, the inner layer is when we personally reveal things about ourselves and get to a greater depth of intimacy (depth). It is the idea how open and close someone can become with another person. 

It is possible to have breadth without depth and even depth without breadth (Griffin, 2012).

Breadth without depth

For example : a simple everyday conversation between two students in school. They both talk only up to the point where they reach the breadth layer. For instance, they ask what subjects they take this semester and how well are they coping up with school. This involves the orientation stage and may reach up to exploratory stage too.

Depth without breadth

For example : a conversation between two persons who are interested in photography club. As they both are interested in photography, they tend to talk about it and open up and express different things towards photography what how they feel towards different context of photography. It goes deeper up to the point where they are so comfortable with each other to share thoughts and opinions about their mutual interest. Different thoughts and arguments may arise. This kind of conversation involves the exploratory stage, affective stage and may reach up to stable stage too.

The act of wanting to share or self-disclosure leads to reciprocity. This usually happens in the early stage of relationship. It is said that penetration is rapid at the start but starts slowing down as more layers are peeled away.

However  the process of withdrawal or depenetration occurs when the relationship goes up to the point where one or more of the individuals no longer feeling comfortable to communicate with the other on a personal level and thus taking a step back.

For example :

In the photography club example earlier, when one gets too comfortable, the person starts to criticize the other’s opinions or work consciously or unconsciously. He makes it clear that the other person can never be good as him. This makes the other person to feel offended and thus a withdrawal occurs. This can lead the termination of the relationship.

In conclusion, the process of social penetration often involves in communication and social interaction. It starts from every day simple conversations of two or more work mates to a personal conversation with a family member, best friend or even lover.

However, there are certain criticism of the theory that are failed to be supported by real-life data. For example as relationships goes weak, self disclosure often upturns.  And the original theory stated that there are no gender differences in vulnerability, but a research has found that males are less to open up than females.

References :

Social Penetration Theory. Accessed on 12^th April 2012 from http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/theory/spt.html

Social Penetration Theory. Accessed on 12^th April 2012 from http://www.ukessays.com/essays/cultural-studies/social-penetration-theory

Social Penetration Theory. Accessed on 12^th April 2012 from https://www2.mcdaniel.edu/rtrader/com1102/socialpenetrationtheory.pdf