Self disclosure basically means or refers to a form of communication whereby one communicates the hidden self to other people or to another person.
According to Matthew McKay, Ph.D., Martha Davis, Ph.D., and Patrick Fanning, Self-disclosure is composed of four elements: Open Self, Blind Self, Hidden Self and Unknown Self
Self disclosure can be seen as a strategy of taking the hidden self to the open self or sharing information about you with others which they never knew about you. Disclosing some or ones information about oneself can help establish meaningful relationships as other people can learn or now know why you behave the way you do so it helps people know you better and almost never judge you in some of the things you do. This way we interact or communicate peacefully without misunderstanding each other in any way improving the establishment of meaningful relationships in our lives. By self disclosing we can learn a lot about ourselves as well, get to discover new things we never knew about ourselves for example one can find out that he/she is more of a creative thinker/right brained than a critical thinker/left brained in situations whereby one is in a group doing assignments etc. This contributes more to self knowledge because we also get to know both our weaknesses and strengths and learn how to be at our best and know how to avoid some of our weaknesses. People can also benefit from self disclosing by gaining new perspectives about themselves. Self-disclosure offers many rewards, according to authors McKay, Davis, and Fanning , we tend to get to know ourselves to an extent that we are known. According to Randy Siegel keeping quite or being silent is a form of disclosing information about ourselves to others. As people or human beings we love or enjoy the feeling of closeness with others, and relationships with others which can transform us in positive ways, according to Derlega, V. "Developing Close Relationships,”
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