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Homework answers / question archive / In this unit, you have learned about many theories and concepts related to communication in interpersonal relationships, including Self-Disclosure, Social Judgment Theory, Social Comparison Theory, Social Penetration Theory, the Johari Window, Social Exchange Theory, the Stages of Relationship Development, Expressing Emotion, and the Six Types of Love
In this unit, you have learned about many theories and concepts related to communication in interpersonal relationships, including Self-Disclosure, Social Judgment Theory, Social Comparison Theory, Social Penetration Theory, the Johari Window, Social Exchange Theory, the Stages of Relationship Development, Expressing Emotion, and the Six Types of Love.
Choose one of these theories and concepts to use for this post. Put that theory in your post title. Next, briefly demonstrate that you understand that theory or concept by summarizing it in your own words. Finally, apply it to a personal example to show us that you can use that theory or concept in practice. (see example below
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Example Post
Title: The Johari Window with My Friend Bob
The Johari Window is an interesting theory to me because it points out how much of ourselves we hide from others, even if we tell ourselves we are open and honest. It is divided into four smaller window panes, with the Open pane the one we want to use more of. The Blind part is what we can't see about ourselves and the Hidden or Secret part is what we don't show others. The more we try to talk to other people and engage in self-reflection to better understand ourselves the better our Johari Window looks.
My friend Bob has a crappy window. All he ever talks about is how awesome he is at Basketball, even though he has a weak 3 point shot and can't do a layup. He is Blind to this and a lot of other stuff. He thinks he doesn't have a Hidden part of his window either - he always says 'He'll tell anyone anything and doesn't have secrets.' I know about his relationship with his mom, which he never talks about, and about how he is failing some of his classes - and he never tells people he is struggling in school. My window is better than Bob's, because I think i am more honest about what I choose to hide, and I don't think hiding things is entirely bad. Like, we should be allowed to have some things that are hidden, and that's why it is on the window. Everyone gets a few secrets, but the more of them you have, the less Open your window, the worse your relationships are going to be. That's what I think Johari window is saying.
The Social Penetration Theory with My Friend Wright
Title: The Social Penetration Theory with My Friend Wright
My theory of interest is the social penetration theory. It describes how relationships develop and grow through communication. The theory suggests that relationships by nature are characterized by shallow communication at the beginning, which grows deeper as the relationship progresses and becomes more personal. Therefore, the social penetration theory insists on the importance of communication and self-disclosure in the development of relationships (Carpenter & Greene, 2015). It is this self-disclosure that determines the level of intimacy in a relationship.
The social penetration theory describes the kind of friendships that I have. For example, Wright is my best friend because of the level of self-disclosure that he and I have that characterizes our conversations. My friendship with Wright has existed for several years, and I can state that as the years passed, so did our openness with each other increase, leading to the growth of the relationship. We met in a classroom, and at first, our conversations were basically superficial and began with simple greetings.
As we attended more classes together, the depth of our conversations increased to seeking each other’s help with assignments and asking if the other would like to hang out during weekends. Soon we would chat about our families and what was going on in our lives at any given time. As we continued to know more about each other, our friendship became stronger, and we grew closer to each other. Currently, it is difficult to find something that I do not know about Wright and vice versa.
The way our friendship developed to this stage corresponds with the dynamics of the social penetration theory. For instance, how our friendship transitioned from being merely classmates to being best friends who know everything about each other through communication and self-disclosure adequately relates to the theory of social penetration (Carpenter & Greene, 2015). This is because not all my friendships have always ended this way, which is the result of different levels of self-disclosure and reciprocity of the same.
