#📓 #🟠 # Openers: Individuals who elicit intimate self-disclosure ![[calendar-plus.svg]] <small>May 27, 2022</small> | ![[calendar-clock.svg]] <small>Jan 03, 2023</small> 🏷️ [[listening]], [[Personality Assessments MOC]] **Authors:** [[Lynn C. Miller]], [[John H. Berg]], [[Richard L. Archer]] **Citation:** Miller, L. C., Berg, J. H., & Archer, R. L. (1983). Openers: Individuals who elicit intimate self-disclosure. _Journal of Personality and Social Psychology_, _44_(6), 1234–1244. [https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.44.6.1234](https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.44.6.1234) --- # Abstract ~ 3 Sentence Summary Presents an 'Opener Scale' that measures the tendency to elicit intimate disclosure from others. Data from 740 undergraduates provided evidence for the scale's validity and reliability. In a face-to-face dyadic interaction between strangers in a laboratory study, 55 undergraduate women who scored either high or low on the Opener Scale were paired with other women who scored either high or low on a self-disclosure index. Low disclosers revealed more to high openers than to low openers. However, high disclosers were equally intimate with both types of partner. In a field study with 54 sorority women, acquaintances and friends were more willing to disclose to high openers than to low openers. High openers were more liked than low openers in the latter study only. It is suggested that high openers were able to elicit more disclosure because of their greater receptiveness and attentiveness and use of more follow-up questions. (44 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) # Notes & Important Ideas ### Inconsistencies in measuring self-disclosure could be due to lack of understanding of situational variables - People may self-disclose more or less depending on who they are speaking to ([note on p.1234](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/NF3LJK44?page=1)) - ["] may be the product, not simply of a single individual, but of an interaction influenced by both members of the dyad ([Miller et al 1983:1234](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/NF3LJK44?page=1)) ### More likely to disclose to an individual who is responsive and a good listener ([Miller et al 1983:1235](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/NF3LJK44?page=2)) - ["] Perhaps , the more we know about ourselves, the more we can disclose to others. Alternatively, the more we tell others about ourselves, the more we may find out about ourselves from their feedback. ([Miller et al 1983:1237](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/NF3LJK44?page=4)) - Evidence shows that people disclose to a [[high opener]] more than a low opener. ([Miller et al 1983:1241](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/NF3LJK44?page=8)) - Low disclosers disclose more when their partner is a [[high opener]] than when their partner is a low opener. ([Miller et al 1983:1241](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/NF3LJK44?page=8)) ### Qualities of high openers - More receptive and attentive - Actively elicit more disclosure from their partners by asking more follow-up questions. ([Miller et al 1983:1242](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/NF3LJK44?page=9)) - ["] We should no longer conceive of a person as an individual reacting to his or her interpersonal environment but as an interaction partner whose behavior alternately influences and is influenced by the other participants. ([Miller et al 1983:1242](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/NF3LJK44?page=9)) # Personal Reflection --- # Other References