Circling Science

Relational Mobility Explains Between- and Within-Culture Differences in Self-Disclosure to Close Friends

Joanna Schug, Masaki Yuki and William W. Maddux · 2010

Evidence
Survey
Kind
Journal article
peer-reviewed
Method
Two questionnaire studies: Japanese and American participants compared, then a second study within Japan
Published
Psychological Science, 21(10), 1471–1478

Mechanisms

Studies a process a circle relies on, such as disclosure or synchrony, wherever it happens.

Japanese participants reported disclosing less to close friends than Americans, and the gap, like differences within Japan, tracked relational mobility: how freely people around them can form new relationships and leave old ones.

What it doesn’t show

Self-reported disclosure to one close friend, in two countries. It does not observe disclosure, or show what happens when people from settings of low relational mobility are asked to disclose to strangers.

Summary based on the abstract.

Directions that build on it

  1. Circling across cultures

    Builds on 7 works · 1 funding route

    Does Circling feel the same, and help as much, where people disclose less and ask for support less directly?

Links

Cite

Schug, J., Yuki, M., & Maddux, W. W. (2010). Relational Mobility Explains Between- and Within-Culture Differences in Self-Disclosure to Close Friends. Psychological Science, 21(10), 1471–1478. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797610382786