Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

 

Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Register here to gain access to SAGE's 500+ Journals Online

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Yovetich, N. A.
Right arrow Articles by Drigotas, S. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Yovetich, N. A.
Right arrow Articles by Drigotas, S. M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 25, No. 9, 1135-1146 (1999)
DOI: 10.1177/01461672992512007

Secret Transmission: A Relative Intimacy Hypothesis

Nancy A. Yovetich

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Stephen M. Drigotas

Southern Methodist University

The transmission of another’s secret is likened to self-disclosure, and further predictions are set forth based on a relative intimacy hypothesis. This hypothesis maintains that individuals will be more likely to transmit private information gathered from a lower-level intimate to a higher-level intimate (upward transmission) rather than from a higher-level intimate to a lower-level intimate (downward transmission). This pattern of behavior also is predicted to be normatively enforced. Results of three studies support these assertions. Participants were more likely to communicate upward rather than downward in both imagined (Study 1) and actual (Study 2) instances of secret transmission. In addition, individuals in Study 3 evaluated a secret relayer more negatively when he or she passed the secret from a higher-level intimate to a lower-level intimate.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?