Self-disclosure plays a central role in the development and maintenance of relationships. One way that researchers have explored these processes is by studying the links between self-disclosure and liking. Using meta-analytic procedures, the present work sought to clarify and review this literature by evaluating the evidence for 3 distinct disclosure-liking effects. Significant disclosure-liking relations were found for each effect: (a) People who engage in intimate disclosures tend to be liked more than people who disclose at lower levels, (b) people disclose more to those whom they initially like, and (c) people like others as a result of having disclosed to them. In addition, the relation between disclosure and liking was moderated by a number of variables, including study paradigm, type of disclosure, and gender of the discloser. Taken together, these results suggest that various disclosure-liking effects can be integrated and viewed as operating together within a dynamic interpersonal system. Implications for theory development are discussed, and avenues for future research are suggested.

In this target article, we argue that personality processes, personality structure, and personality development have to be understood and investigated in integrated ways in order to provide comprehensive responses to the key questions of personality psychology. The psychological processes and mechanisms that explain concrete behaviour in concrete situations should provide explanation for patterns of variation across situations and individuals, for development over time as well as for structures observed in intra-individual and inter-individual differences. Personality structures, defined as patterns of covariation in behaviour, including thoughts and feelings, are results of those processes in transaction with situational affordances and regularities. It cannot be presupposed that processes are organized in ways that directly correspond to the observed structure. Rather, it is an empirical question whether shared sets of processes are uniquely involved in shaping correlated behaviours, but not uncorrelated behaviours (what we term 'correspondence' throughout this paper), or whether more complex interactions of processes give rise to population-level patterns of covariation (termed 'emergence'). The paper is organized in three parts, with part I providing the main arguments, part II reviewing some of the past approaches at (partial) integration, and part III outlining conclusions of how future personality psychology should progress towards complete integration. Working definitions for the central terms are provided in the appendix.

A self-report instrument yielded two separate factors: private body consciousness (awareness of internal sensations) and public body consciousness (awareness of observable aspects of body). For each factor, norms, test-retest reliability data, and correlations with other personality measures are presented. An experiment on reaction to ingestion of caffeine revealed that only subjects high in private body consciousness or high in both private body consciousness and private selfconsciousness were stimulated by caffeine; individual differences in public body consciousness and in private self-consciousness alone had no impact. These findings have implications for biofeedback, false physiological feedback, and excitation transfer.When we attend to ourselves, what do we observe? Though there may be various answers to this question, one is to classify the diverse components of the self into private and public aspects. The private aspects can be observed only by the experiencing person: thoughts, images, memories, motives, and feelings-all concerning oneself. The public aspects can be observed by anyone else: appearance, manners, and style of behavior.People differ considerably in the extent to which they attend to the private aspects of themselves, and there are marked individual differences in consciousness of the public or social aspects of oneself. These two dispositions, private and public self-consciousness, are measured by the Self-Consciousness Inventory (Fenigstein, Scheier, & Buss, 1975). Among the highest loading items on the Private Self-Consciousness Scale are, "I reflect about myself a lot," "I'm generally attentive to my inner feelings," and "I'm alert to changes in my mood.

An Opener Scale that measures the tendency to "open up" or elicit intimate disclosure from others is introduced. In a face-to-face dyadic interaction between strangers in a laboratory study, 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, acquaintances and friends were more willing to disclose to high openers than to low openers. Implications of the results for future research on self-disclosure are discussed.

IntroductionMen who have sex with men (MSM) often face socially sanctioned disapproval of sexual deviance from the heterosexual “normal.” Such sexual stigma can be internalized producing a painful affective state (i.e., shame). Although shame (e.g., addiction) can predict risk-taking (e.g., alcohol abuse), sexual shame's link to sexual risk-taking is unclear. Socially Optimized Learning in Virtual Environments (SOLVE) was designed to reduce MSM's sexual shame, but whether it does so, and if that reduction predicts HIV risk reduction, is unclear. To test if at baseline, MSM's reported past unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) is related to shame; MSM's exposure to SOLVE compared to a wait-list control (WLC) condition reduces MSM's shame; and shame-reduction mediates the link between WLC condition and UAI risk reduction.MethodsHIV-negative, self-identified African American, Latino or White MSM, aged 18–24 years, who had had UAI with a non-primary/casual partner in the past three months were recruited for a national online study. Eligible MSM were computer randomized to either WLC or a web-delivered SOLVE. Retained MSM completed baseline measures (e.g., UAI in the past three months; current level of shame) and, in the SOLVE group, viewed at least one level of the game. At the end of the first session, shame was measured again. MSM completed follow-up UAI measures three months later. All data from 921 retained MSM (WLC condition, 484; SOLVE condition, 437) were analyzed, with missing data multiply imputed.ResultsAt baseline, MSM reporting more risky sexual behaviour reported more shame (r s=0.21; p<0.001). MSM in the SOLVE intervention reported more shame reduction (M=−0.08) than MSM in the control condition (M=0.07; t(919)=4.24; p<0.001). As predicted, the indirect effect was significant (point estimate −0.10, 95% bias-corrected CI [−0.01 to −0.23] such that participants in the SOLVE treatment condition reported greater reductions in shame, which in turn predicted reductions in risky sexual behaviour at follow-up. The direct effect, however, was not significant.ConclusionsSOLVE is the first intervention to: (1) significantly reduce shame for MSM; and (2) demonstrate that shame-reduction, due to an intervention, is predictive of risk (UAI) reduction over time.