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20 - Self-Disclosure in Relationships

Revealing and Concealing Information about Oneself to Others

from Part VI - Interactive Processes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2018

By
Catrin Finkenauer ,
Peter Kerkhof  and
Tila Pronk
Edited by
Anita L. Vangelisti  and
Daniel Perlman
Anita L. Vangelisti
Affiliation:
University of Texas, Austin
Daniel Perlman
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina, Greensboro
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Summary

Concerns with social acceptance and rejection play a central role in virtually all adult relationships. People’s efforts to maintain a desired level of acceptance and to avoid being rejected exert a pervasive influence on their interpersonal behaviors, and indications that others do not adequately value people’s relationships have strong effects on their emotions, behaviors, and self-views. The chapter begins by examining the nature of people’s concerns with acceptance, showing that at the most basic level, people are chronically concerned about their “relational value” in the eyes of those with whom they have—or want to have—relationships. After examining the motivational bases of people’s concerns with relational value, the chapter describes ways in which people maintain their relational value, explores emotional reactions to perceiving that one’s relational value is lower than one desires, examines the effects of low and high relational value on self-esteem, and discusses how people behave when they feel inadequately valued.
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Personal Relationships , pp. 271 - 281
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

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