Circling Science

Intimacy as an interpersonal process: The importance of self-disclosure, partner disclosure, and perceived partner responsiveness in interpersonal exchanges.

Jean-Philippe Laurenceau, Lisa Feldman Barrett and Paula R. Pietromonaco · 1998

Evidence
Observational study
Kind
Journal article
peer-reviewed
Method
Two event-based diary studies recording disclosure, perceived responsiveness and intimacy after everyday encounters
Sample
69 students analysed over one week and 89 over two weeks
Published
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(5), 1238–1251

Adjacent

Studies a related practice or mechanism, without testing Circling.

Two diary studies linked disclosure and feeling that a partner responded with understanding to greater intimacy, with emotional disclosure more strongly linked than factual disclosure.

What it doesn’t show

Participants supplied all ratings, including their view of the partner’s behaviour. The associations within everyday encounters do not establish which factor caused another or independently verify how responsive the partner was. The analysed samples were students.

Summary based on the abstract and the author-hosted full text’s methods and results.

Directions that build on it

  1. What being met is like

    Builds on 9 works · 5 funding routes

    What do people actually experience in the moments they describe as being seen or met?

  2. Transfer beyond the room

    Builds on 6 works · 2 funding routes

    Does closeness built in a circle carry into people’s existing relationships?

Links

Cite

Laurenceau, J.-P., Barrett, L. F., & Pietromonaco, P. R. (1998). Intimacy as an interpersonal process: The importance of self-disclosure, partner disclosure, and perceived partner responsiveness in interpersonal exchanges. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(5), 1238–1251. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.74.5.1238