The effects of modeled self-disclosure on persons' subsequent self-disclosures were investigated. The type of modeled self-description that would facilitate disclosure of negative self-evaluations among highly defensive 5s was of primary interest. Sixty-four male 5s who had scored either high or low on a paper-and-pencil measure of defensiveness participated in a 10-minute verbal self-description task. Equal numbers of 5s were given the opportunity of listening to one of three taperecorded (modeled) examples of a confederate's verbal self-description. A control group did not listen to an example prior to giving their own self-descriptions. Results suggested that exposure to any model significantly influenced 5s' subsequent verbal outputs and the degree to which they made favorable, unfavorable, and anxiety-related self-references. The nondefensive model facilitated 5s' disclosures of unfavorable attributes for all 5s and was the only condition that significantly promoted disclosure for the highly defensive group.
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