Disclosure reciprocity and its limits: A reactance analysis

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to test a reactance theory explanation of Rubin's ( Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 1975, 11, 233–260) disclosure reciprocity breakdown. Subjects were approached in public places by experimenters who wrote a self-description of Low, Medium, or High Intimacy. Then the experimenter either delivered a Restoration of freedom or did not. On a scale based on Altman and Taylor ( Social penetration: The development of interpersonal relationships, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1973) , intimacy of the subjects' disclosures increased with the experimenters' Intimacy. As expected, subjects were also more intimate following a Restoration of freedom. The number of words written in return by subjects to the experimenters increased slightly from Low to Medium Intimacy, then dropped from Medium to High in the No Restoration condition, replicating the disclosure breakdown effects. However, with a Restoration of freedom the number of words climbed consistently as the level of Intimacy increased. Experimenter sex and Subject sex also interacted with the major variables, Intimacy and Restoration, any may be considered limiting conditions.