Personality Structure and Social Penetration

Chapter 9 discusses the theory of social penetration. Social Psychologists Irwin Altman and Dalmas Taylor explained that the "social penetration process explains how relational closeness develops." (p. 114). Making friends and starting relationships has always just been something that happens. i had never thought of the it as a process. This theory is so interesting to me because it is almost like a manual for choosing and judging possible valuable friendships. I love the example of an onion with layers. I immediately thought of the movie Shrek, I loved the onion and layers visual because I had used it before, not even knowing about this theory In a public speaking class I took our first speech was a self introduction. We were to think of a creative way to tell the class about ourselves. I thought of a bunch of different ideas but I wanted to show everyone that I had layers. I used the onion example and got an A on that speech. I see how it is so tough to really get to know someone because there are so many factors that need to become aligned in order to gain someones trust. I have had a lot of good friends but I only have a few very close friends.