Development of Intimate Conversation in Close Relationships

Abstract

The ways that dyads manifest increasing intimacy in their conversational patterns were investigated in two studies. In Experiment 1, 58 naturally occurring telephone conversations between pairs of female strangers, acquaintances, and friends were analyzed. Results supported the hypothesis that strangers' disclosures would be neither descriptive (involving private facts) nor evaluative (involving feelings and opinions), that acquaintances' disclosures would be evaluative but not descriptive, and that friends' disclosures would be both descriptive and evaluative. Experiment 2 attempted to extend these findings using a longitudinal design. Eighteen friend dyads and 18 acquaintance dyads were assessed every 4 weeks over a 3-month period. No significant increase in conversational intimacy was found, although the pattern of evaluative disclosure among acquaintances was replicated. The need for a longer data collection period is stressed, since questionnaire ratings indicated that acquaintances were starting to become more intimate outside of the experimental context by the third month. Implications of both sets of findings for conceptualizing the development of intimacy are discussed.