Summary of Social Penetration Theory

Social Penetration Theory was developed by Irwin Altman and Dallas Taylor.

In order for the people to understand more about the theory, they formulated a model. The well known onion model. It represents the multiple layers of a person.

For a person to penetrate in you, they need to pass first the Superficial layers. Here lies your biographical data and the likes and dislikes in clothes, music and so on.

Next, the Middle layers, here lies your political views, social attitudes and so on of a person.

Then, the Inner layers, where lies your spiritual values, deep fears, hopes, goals, fantasies, secrets and so on.

And lastly, the Core. Here lies your most basic self.

As for me, only a few people get to penetrate to the Core. Basically, these are the people I trust and who trusts me in return. These are the significant people in my life. The common denominator in them? They’ve known me for a considerably long time already.

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