The effects of interaction distance and gender on self-disclosure in the dyad.

Abstract

The effects of interaction distance and gender of dyad on intimacy and self-disclosure were studied by assigning male and female subjects to same-gender dyads interacting at two, four, or ten feet. Subjects were asked to converse about six topics, five of which were selected as having moderate intimacy value. Conversations were tape recorded and several measures of self-disclosure were obtained from the tapes, from judges' ratings of the conversations, and from subjects' self reports. For the behavioral, judged, and self-reported measures of intimacy and self-disclosure, males tended to increase their intimacy rather dramatically as the interaction distance increased while females evidenced slightly decreasing intimacy as the interaction distance increased. Main effects for interaction distance were found for self-reports of closeness and tension only.