Abstract
Psychology is one of the most interesting fields in the world. Most of the issues discussed in the field of psychology involve the activities of mind and this includes the power of reasoning and being rational. Psychology tends to explain human behavior and the reason why different people will behave differently even in similar situations. The aspect of self disclosure is one that has been explained through the definition and elaboration of different schools of thought in psychology. Personality is another important aspect highlighted in the field of psychology as it plays an important role as well in determining the self disclosure patterns of individuals in different social settings. The broad nature of psychology gives the provision for addressing issues affecting human behavior within the society. In this case, the different learning processes in psychology come into play as important components of self disclosure. Psychology proposes that there are many ways through which human beings learn so as to adapt to the state of the environment at a particular point in time. This leads to the act of self disclosure which is basically revealing ones inner behavior as a result of different psychological forces. Different psychologists came up with different schools of thought with the objective of defining the aspect of humans’ way of thinking, learning and solving problems in the society. Wilhelm Wundt came up with structuralism as a major school of thought. Other schools of thought include psychoanalysis, behaviorism and functionalism. Every school of thought in psychology has a basis on which arguments are laid. This therefore creates the impression that at some point the views of different schools in psychology will contrast. The differences that occur in the arguments made by every school of thought in psychology create room for further research especially in determining self disclosure patterns for different individuals. This therefore has paved way for upcoming psychology to engage in conducting further research in specific schools of thought in learning how the psychological forces impact on self disclosure. Psychology has enabled the study of behavior and also given explanation behind disclosure of innate behavior amongst individuals. This has broadly been referred to as self disclosure and is one of the aspects that have affected individual behavior within the society. Different fields of psychology have been known to affect self disclosure either positively or negatively.
The social exchange theory could be used to explain the aspects of self disclosure amongst men and women in intimate relations. Women are known to self disclose more that men while in intimate relationships. The social exchange theory reveals that self disclosure occurs on a basis of rewards and costs. For instance a woman in an intimate relationship may disclose her intimacy to her partner and in return she would demand the same in return from the man. Self disclosure in women therefore is seen as a way of enhancing intimate relationship. The self exchange theory shows the psychological forces have a significant impact on self disclosure. On the same case of relations, emotions and inner feelings are hidden. These psychological aspects are only revealed when individuals engage in intimate relationships. This is clear defined by the theory of psychoanalysis where behavior is defined by inner activities of the mind.
There are various fields of psychology which have significant impact on self disclosure. Self disclosure has had many definitions from different psychologists and the most general one is that it is the act of exposing ones inner behaviors either consciously or subconsciously. Different psychological theories act as forces towards self disclosure in different individuals. To begin with, behaviorism is one of the fields of psychology that acts as force that has a positive impact towards self disclosure. Behaviorism relies on the aspects of classical conditioning and operant conditioning (Skinner, 1976). These two conditioning responses are the main aspects which structure the behavior patterns of individuals in different situations. Operant conditioning relies on the fact that behavior is structured by the rewards or punishment associated with that behavior (Strachey, 1989). These are simply the consequences for that behavior. With this knowledge in mind, the aspect of operant conditioning may therefore lead to people depicting inner behaviors due to the knowledge that there would be rewards that would be associated with depicting the behavior in public. For instance a promise of the best drawn artifact in an arts class would have an impact on some of the students revealing their hidden potentials and this can be considered as an aspect of self disclosure.
Psychoanalysis is another field of psychological which may be viewed as a psychological force towards self disclosure in different individuals. This school of thought was developed by Sigmund Freud. Unlike behaviorism which associate human behavior to the environment, psychoanalysis focuses on the ability of the innate nature of an individual to influence the behavior of an individual (Keane, 2000). This is a very important aspect when it comes to determining self disclosure patterns of individuals. The innate nature of an individual and the impact made by irrational drives are what influence the behavioral patterns of an individual. This aspect may force individuals to disclose off some of their hidden behaviors. A good practical example that tends to show how psychoanalysis positively influences self disclosure is the case of an individual who is hydrophobic. The psychological status of such an individual is on the fear of water. An effective way through which such an individual would disclose innate behavior would be by exposing the individual to an environment filled with water such as a swimming pool. The behavior depicted by the individual would be that of absolute fear and this is basically an aspect of self disclosure.
Perception is a field of psychology that could be observed against the need for self disclosure. There are different forms of perception. The first form of perception is the personal or individual perception. This is basically how an individual perceives him/herself. The other form of perception is the way the society or members of a society view an individual. Arguing on the basis of an irrational individual, it is the expectation of every individual to be perceived from a positive point of view by the society. Self disclosure may however change the way the society views an individual (Hogg, 2010). This could be clearly explained in individuals who are psychologically and emotionally attracted to members of the same sex. This is simply referred to as being gay. An individual who is gay in nature would not want the society to have a clue of his or her true nature. This is because there is a specific way through which the society views the specific behavior. Self disclosure of an individual with a gay nature would therefore change the way the society perceives the individual and this would negatively affect the individual in relation to the psychological nature. In this case it would be therefore to create the notion that perception, as a psychological force is against self disclosure as this would negatively influence an individual’s psychology.
There are effects of self disclosure not only to the individual but to the society as well. One of the effects of self disclosure is that it would be possible to predict the behavior of an individual when exposed to particular stimulus (Keane, 2000). This can be clearly defined by the application of operant conditioning as a psychological force in predicting behavior. With the knowledge of operant conditioning; where behavior is triggered by the consequences of the actions of individuals, it would be possible to predict the behavior patterns of individuals. This would clearly be established in an example where the classroom setting is applied. Once the bell rings while a lesson is on session, then there are different ways in which students would react. The ringing of the bell would cause some study to depict behavior implying relief while other students would show a little frustration. These two ways in which behavior is shown reveal the inner personal feelings of every student. A psychology tutor would therefore be in a position to predict the behavioral patterns of every student and this would be owed to self disclosure of the students as a result of external stimulus which is the ringing of the bell.
Another positive effect of self disclosure is that it would be applied in counseling sessions between a psychology counselor and a patient. In such a situation, the counselor would have to know the behavioral patterns of the patient both the innate and external ones. To know of the inner behavior patterns of the patient, the counselor would have to conduct self disclosure tests on the patient. This would enhance the psychology’s effectiveness in assisting the patient overcome a specific psychological disorder (Baum, 2004). This is the reason why psychologists advocate for self disclosure especially amongst patients with psychological disorders. Another positive influence of the knowledge of self disclosure patterns amongst individuals is that it would aid in assisting individuals in knowing their personalities also the way to cope with different situations in life. Self disclosure is crucial as it would enhance the social relationships within the society in that people within the societal setting would be in a better position of understanding each other hence avoiding conflicts. In the case of a teacher student setting, the teacher would be in a position of determining the full potential of the students and this would only be achieved in situations of self disclosure. The handling of students by teachers at different academic levels would greatly be enhanced if the teachers possessed knowledge on how to make students self disclose their hidden behavioral patterns. Self disclosure is therefore a psychological aspect whose effect is much of a positive nature hence should be encouraged within the society.
Conclusion
Learning the extent to which psychology tries to explain different phenomenon is important because it would assist an individual’s social relations with the society due to self disclosure. This is specifically in the fields of psychology that explain the behavioral patterns of individuals in different situations. Once exposed to different situations, individuals are forced to disclose their hidden behavior patterns and this is basically what is regarded as self disclosure. By learning behavior in the different schools of thought in psychology individuals would be in a better position to solve problems associated with behavior in the society. The different schools of thought in psychology have an important role to play in explaining self disclosure patterns of individuals. Behavior is one of the most important aspects in human development hence why the field of psychology tends to broadly discuss it. The learning process is also an important process through which individuals will find themselves inclined to specific behavior. These are discussed in the classical and operant conditioning learning processes in the behaviorism school of thought. Psychology goes further in discussing personality and the society and the influence the two aspects have on the behavior of individuals. Personality of different individuals will influence how the individuals behave hence affect the relation of the individual with the society either positively or negatively. Psychology can therefore be seen to discuss a wide range of factors that tend to affect the behavioral patterns of individuals in the society. Self disclosure can be seen to be affected by different psychological forces. These forces have been clearly defined by different schools of thought in psychology and this is the reason why psychology remains to be one of the most important fields in the current world.
Reference
Baum, W, M. (2004). Understanding Behaviorism: Behavior, Culture, and Evolution, New
York: Wiley-Blackwell.
Keane, M. (2000). Cognitive Psychology: A Student's Handbook, New York: Psychology Press.
Skinner, B, F. (1976). About Behaviorism, New York: Vintage.
Hogg, M. (2010). Social Psychology with MyPsychLab, London: Prentice Hall.
Strachey, J. (1989). Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis, Michigan: Liveright.
