Putative secrets: When information is supposedly a secret

Abstract

Secrets are common within relationships. Sometimes, unbeknownst to a secret keeper, a relational partner learns a secret but allows the keeper to believe that the secret is still unknown. This article summarizes two investigations of such instances, which we call putative secrets. Study 1 (N = 207) provided a descriptive base of putative secret topics, means by which secrets are kept, and perceived reasons for keeping secrets. Study 2 (N = 383) found that the relational impact of putative secrets depended on the secret topic, individuals’ perceptions of the topic, the ways the secret was kept, and the perceived reasons for keeping the secret. There were also theoretically interesting interactions among the reasons for keeping the secret.

Public Intimacy: Disclosure Interpretation and Social Judgments on Facebook

“…The message intimacy scale consisted of four bipolar items measured on a 7‐point scale: nonintimate–intimate, impersonal–personal, public–private, and superficial‐in‐depth, alpha = .81, adapted from scales measuring information intimacy (Caughlin, Scott, Miller, & Hefner, ). The relational closeness scale (seven items) was adapted from Vangelisti and Caughlin (), and was also measured on a 7‐point scale, with 1 = not at all and 7 = very much, alpha = .97.…”

Invited Review Article

“…Although beliefs about goals are plainly relevant to the interpretation and impact of messages, very few multiple goals studies have focused on this assumption (cf. Caughlin, Scott, Miller, & Hefner, 2009). There is, of course, a tradition of studying attributions as they relate to interaction, but this research tends to focus on very global distinctions, such as whether a behavior is intentional (e.g., Vangelisti, 2001) or the extent of self-serving biases (e.g., attributing more constructive behaviors to oneself and more negative ones to one's partner; Sillars, Roberts, Dun, & Leonard, 2001).…”

Relational surprise experiences as a unique form of relational maintenance

“…Across multiple studies, surprises appeared infrequently as a type of secret kept from relational partners as compared to other secrets, such as sexual infidelity (Caughlin, Scott, Miller, & Hefner, 2009). Keeping surprises are the least relational distancing and hurtful secret type (Caughlin et al, 2009). Findings suggest people might not consider behaviors used to enact surprises as deception.…”

“…Secrecy scholarship has alluded that secret keeping is part of enacting surprises, with minimal direct discussion of this phenomenon. Across multiple studies, surprises appeared infrequently as a type of secret kept from relational partners as compared to other secrets, such as sexual infidelity (Caughlin, Scott, Miller, & Hefner, 2009). Keeping surprises are the least relational distancing and hurtful secret type (Caughlin et al, 2009).…”