• DOI:10.1037/0022-3514.74.5.1238
• Corpus ID: 1209571

Intimacy as an interpersonal process: the importance of self-disclosure, partner disclosure, and perceived partner responsiveness in interpersonal exchanges.

@article{Laurenceau1998IntimacyAA,
  title={Intimacy as an interpersonal process: the importance of self-disclosure, partner disclosure, and perceived partner responsiveness in interpersonal exchanges.},
  author={Jean-Philippe Laurenceau and Lisa Feldman Barrett and Paula R. Pietromonaco},
  journal={Journal of personality and social psychology},
  year={1998},
  volume={74 5},
  pages={
          1238-51
        }
}

• J. Laurenceau, L. F. Barrett, P. Pietromonaco
• Published 1 May 1998
• Psychology, Business
• Journal of personality and social psychology

H. T. Reis and P. Shaver's (1988) interpersonal process model of intimacy suggests that both self-disclosure and partner responsiveness contribute to the experience of intimacy in interactions. Two studies tested this model using an event-contingent diary methodology in which participants provided information immediately after their social interactions over 1 (Study 1) or 2 (Study 2) weeks. For each interaction, participants reported on their self-disclosures, partner disclosures, perceived partner responsiveness, and degree of intimacy experienced in the interaction. Overall, the findings strongly supported the conceptualization of intimacy as a combination of self-disclosure and partner disclosure at the level of individual interactions with partner responsiveness as a partial mediator in this process. Additionally, in Study 2, self-disclosure of emotion emerged as a more important predictor of intimacy than did self-disclosure of facts and information.