Final Paper

Page 12

Self-Disclosure and Gender

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intimate self-disclosure enhanced the likeability of each other. The third result of the study dealt with the self-disclosure reciprocity that occurred within the CMC. The three experimental conditions showed that there was no correlation between reciprocity and the level of liking (Antheunis et al., 2009). The same concept of self-disclosure through online media relates to another study by Taddei, Contena, and Grana (2010). In this study, the researchers looked at three different questions. However, one of their research objectives that most closely relates to the current research is the difference of likeability and self- disclosure in face-to-face communication and online communication. Taddei et al (2010) split the experiment into four different conditions. Each condition had two segments, both lasting 20 minutes with 20 participants each with an equal number of males and females. The different conditions were as follows: face-to-face communication for both segments; CMC for both segments; CMC for the first meeting and face-to-face for the second; face-to-face communication for the first meeting and CMC for the second. Each female in the group was paired up with a male that she did not know. Face-to-face communication occurred in a laboratory while the CMC or instant messenger chat was conducted through computers in different labs. After each segment of the interaction, the subjects completed a questionnaire about the likeability of the partner. The other questionnaire used a scale to measure the amount of self-disclosure in the interaction (Taddei, et al., 2010). Face-to-face communication and CMC influenced likeability and self-disclosure (Taddei et al., 2010). Based on the results of the study, subjects who interacted first using CMC and then face to face communication disclosed more information and also rated each other as more likeable. “It is possible to confirm that CMC forms as a highly useful tool in developing social


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