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In a 2022 experiment involving 253 participants who didn't previously know each other, people who engaged in more intense self-disclosure perceived their conversation partner as more responsive.
That greater perceived responsiveness was then associated with increased feelings of intimacy.
Interestingly, the researchers held the partner's actual responsiveness constant.
This suggests that sharing something meaningful can partly change how you experience the interaction itself.
But disclosure should still develop naturally—oversharing isn't automatically intimacy.
© Communication Studies (2022)