Altman & Taylor’s Social Penetration
Theory:
Important People In Our Lives
R. Smith Spring 2002
Many people come into and go out of our lives; some have a larger impact
than others. As humans we interact with each other on a daily basis and
relationships are developed, some you may refer to as acquaintances,
some friends, and others as intimate friends. This is a very complex
process that we go through every day of our lives, repeating it over and
over, encountering people that we may end up either knowing or not until
the day we die. There are also people that you go so as far as to love them,
which for me is the highest level of human communication and
involvement. Using the word love is the highest honor that I can give
someone because it puts him/her at the same level as the woman that gave
me life, my mother. My research topic is based on the Altman & Taylor’s
social penetration theory, “The idea that relationships become more
intimate over time when partners disclose more and more information
about themselves.”(Littlejohn250). This may sound like common sense but
it is a large part of how the world works with social and interpersonal
communication.
Altman & Taylor looked at the way that the social penetration was not just a
part of social psychology, but how it is a matter of interpersonal
dissonance. This looked at how an individual develops a personal bond
with another person. The research led to the development of ‘privacy
regulation theory’ (Berkowitz112). Tests were done to demonstrate the
effect of “personal space, territory, crowding, and privacy”(Berkomitz112).
This theory was used to better understand the framework of developing a
relationship. The research took a scientific look at how a relationship
develops, looking at it from the beginning (first sight) to the development
of relationships and put them at different levels.
Altman & Taylor developed a pattern that is broken into “four stages of
relational development”(Littlejohn250). The first is described as
‘orientation of interaction’ and is postulated to occur at the periphery of
personality in ‘public’ areas. “During these initial encounters, individuals
