Abstract

This study attempted to determine the extent anonymity affects the amount of personal information a person will disclose. Theoretical bases for the study included such theories as avoidance, self-presentation, and self-disclosure. A questionnaire was administered to twenty-four employees at AIG Trading in Greenwich, CT, as well as six random acquaintances. Results were somewhat inconclusive, but did have some relation to prior research studies. The topics people avoided were similar, as were the reasons they avoided these topics.

The Effect of Anonymity on Self-Disclosure

There are no written laws stating what one should or should not discuss with others. However, society has developed unwritten laws. We are aware of what topics are acceptable to be discussed and which are not, and often fear we will be judged for disclosing personal information about ourselves that isn't "socially acceptable" to discuss. These factors ask the question: "Will people be more willing to disclose personal information if they cannot be identified as the source of such information?" This study is attempting to answer; "To what extent does anonymity affect the amount of personal information a person will disclose?" Using such theoretical bases as anonymity, avoidance, and self-presentation, this research will attempt to discover important questions concerning the extent to which this anonymity varies from person to person, and the extent to which they feel comfortable, based on different factors.

Self-disclosure refers to the process by which one person reveals information about himself or herself to another person. In this study the researcher focuses on personal thoughts, feelings, ideals, and experiences, which specifically form the content of the self-disclosure.

Stamp (1999) believes that it is important to research the concept of communication before trying to understand self-disclosure. He examined 228 research articles, and researched self-disclosure. The relationship of trust and reciprocity of self-disclosure and the styles and strategies of self-disclosurewere studied. He discovered that when or what we self-disclose may all be part of a plan. Accordingly, we tend to disclose information based on how we would like others to view us.

Perhaps we may willingly avoid those topics that will force us to disclose things about ourselves that we are not especially comfortable revealing. Afifi and Guerrero (1998) tried to examine the extent to which members of the same and cross sex friendships avoid topics. These topics included topics of avoidance related to relationship issues, negative life experiences, dating experiences, sexual experiences, and outside friendships. Reasons for topic avoidance were also explored, which included self-protection, partner unresponsiveness, and social appropriateness.

The results showed that participants avoided discussing negative life experiences and relationship issues with males more than females. Participants also avoided disclosing information about dating and sexual experiences with the opposite sex. Researchers found the primary reason participants had for avoiding topics was due to self-protection, primarily a fear that these behaviors would not be considered socially appropriate.

There are several studies that have attempted to answer similar research questions; such as Golish (2000), who asked, "Is openness always better?" Golish believes that a moderate amount of topic avoidance could be healthy and actually increase satisfaction in relationships. However, extreme use of topic avoidance could be detrimental to a relationship. This particular study investigated adolescents' and young adults' use of topic avoidance in stepfamilies. Telephone interviews were conducted with a sample of 15 adolescents and young adults in stepfamilies.

Golish's results showed that the more satisfied participants were with their mother, father, stepmother, and stepfamily overall the less avoidance they were likely to use. The findings also showed that the more authoritative stepparents tended to increase the amount of avoidance. Obviously, unnecessarily imposing parent and estrangement from family members will not encourage self-disclosure, and might actually inhibit openness.

Lucchetti (1999) conducted his own study, which attempted to determine whether college students actually know that disclosure is a safe-sex practice, and also explored the question of whether or not college students are truthful in disclosing their own sexual history. Subjects were 364 undergraduate college students enrolled in interpersonal communication classes at a large southeastern university. Subjects were asked to fill out a questionnaire, and respondents were informed that their responses would remain anonymous. Students were told not to answer any question that made them feel uncomfortable.

The study showed that the majority of undergraduate students felt knowledgeable about safe sex activities, but over 40% did not know that disclosing one's sexual history was considered a safe-sex practice. One third of sexually active students have avoided this type of disclosure with at least one partner before becoming sexually involved. Lucchetti believes that these students may avoid such issues because they are referred to as "taboo". Discussions about past relationships or sexual experiences might affect couples' relationship. Partners often feel insecure and a loss of control when such subjects are discussed.

Dindia, Fitzpatrick and Kenny (1997) believed self-disclosure is a key to relationship development. The purpose of their study was to examine self-disclosure as both a personality trait and as a process of interaction. They define self-disclosure as a personality trait as being a characteristic of an individual. Social exchange principles as well as norms of reciprocity govern self-disclosure by an interaction process.

Mailings were sent to 110 couples in a local Lutheran Church, of which 58 questionnaires were returned. Twenty married couples were recruited for the study, and these couples were divided into five groups, each being made up of four couples each. Participants engaged in seven ten-minute dyadic conversations with each of the other individuals in the study. Each person was given a list of specific topics to discuss, and the procedure was repeated on three separate occasions.

The results showed little support for individual differences in self-disclosure. Individuals were inconsistent in how much they self-disclosed to others. However, the level of relationship was a factor in the amount self-disclosed. The role of self-disclosure changes as the relationship develops. Reciprocity of self-disclosure plays an important role. People often adjust the amount they self-disclose to coincide with their partner.

Perhaps people are more willing to discuss personal information if their identity is unknown to those they are interacting with. Sarah Carr discusses this issue in her article in The Chronicle of Higher Education. (2000). Mr. Blonna, professor at William University believed that this notion is indeed true. He has taught health and sexuality classes for 20 years, and one semester decide to conduct two sections of the course outside of the classroom and in a completely online environment. Blonna discovered that many students found it easier to discuss these personal health issues over email rather than in person. A student in Mr. Blonna's class stated, "It was less uncomfortable sharing past experiences because you are not face to face, you don't have to see peoples reactions." Mr. Blonna said, "Almost without exception, the students seem to be more at ease discussing these issues online than in a regular classroom."

How well is one's perception of self communicated to others they are familiar with? Shaw (1997) conducted a study in attempt to answer this question. Participants included 100 students from undergraduate speech communication courses. Each participant was told to bring a friend, relative, or spouse to the experiment. The student and their partner were separated and given a series of questionnaires to complete, and both were also asked to tell a personal narrative about the student.

Several obvious conclusions can be drawn from this study; Results showed that 1. Self-concept is presented through personal narrative. 2. Self-presentation functions as an impressive management. 3. Views of other are also presented through narrative.

Some researchers believe that the different genders communicate differently. Many also believe that by knowing that ways in which genders do tend to disclose information about themselves can be useful in enhancing relationships. Shaffer and Pegalis (1992) conducted a study dealing with personal relationship and self-disclosure differences between genders. 84 female and 85 male undergraduates completed questionnaires about their personal attributes. Shafer and Pegalis (1992) expected to find that females in western cultures are more likely to disclose personal information about themselves than males, which they did. Self-disclosing personal information is perceived as more appropriate to women than it is to the male gender. Women are "told" by society to be more open and concerned about personal relationships, while men are "told" to be more closed and unconcerned about their personal relationships. This gender related effect on level of self-disclosure has a deep sociological basis, with these differences being ingrained into our minds at very young ages.

These findings of Shafer and Pegalis (1991) can be closely related to those of Ellingson and Galassi, who in 1995 determined that attraction between two people is very much dependent on level of self-disclosures. Attraction is increased when both people have the similar ideas, attitudes, or belief-systems. In this particular study 80 undergraduates were participants, and it tried to compare self-disclosing in a counseling discussion versus a conversation between friends. They were trying to determine whether or not different situations and environments affect the type and amount of self-disclosure. Results showed that self-disclosure had both a positive and a negative affect on conversations.

Self-disclosing personal information seems to help in building relationships. However, people are often hesitant in disclosing such information. Perhaps if people are disclosing information about themselves but their identity is unknown they will be more likely to reveal such information. The majority of research has indicated that people tend to disclose information differently often depending on how they want to appear and in what type of environment the information is presented.

Methodology

Subjects were 24 employees of AIG Trading in Greenwich CT, as well as six random acquaintances. Participants ranged from age 23-56. Those who participated were comprised of 16 men and 15 women.

The researcher randomly handed out questionnaires as subjects were eating lunch at their desks. Subjects were first asked to sign a consent form and place it in a manila envelope without the researcher seeing it. Participants were then handed a survey and were told not to answer any question they did not feel comfortable answering. When the surveys were completed subjects were asked to place those in another manila envelope, and again so the researcher would not see the surveys until all surveys were collected.

Surveys were made up of 17 questions. The consent form can be seen in Appendix A and the survey in Appendix B. After all surveys were collected the researcher asked three random participants to rate the survey questions on their degree of intimacy. The three categories are public, personal, or intimate. These categories were designed to help later in making sense of the data. Public refers to information that one would freely disclose without apprehension. Personal refers to information that one might hesitate to share with those they are not closely associated with. Intimate refers to information one might hesitate sharing with even their closest companion.

Results

To determine what extent anonymity affects the amount of personal information a person will disclose we must first determine anonymity among the participants. 23 participant placed their name on their questionnaire, thereby giving up on their anonymity. However, two participants did not place their name on the survey. There were also six women subjects that refused to take part in the study. They found the survey to be offensive due to intimacy of certain questions.

Of the 23 participants that can be identified by name, 12 people answered all 17 questions. Out of the two participants that remained anonymous neither person answered all 17 questions. The remaining 11 participants that can be identified only answered certain questions. The results are as follows: 11 out of 11 answered question one. Seven out of 11 answered question two. 11 out of 11 answered question three. 10 out of 11 answered question four. 10 out of 11 answered question five. 11 out of 11 answered question six. 11 out of 11 answered question seven. Nine out of 11 answered question eight. Six out of 11 answered question nine. Eight out of 11 answered question ten. Question eleven was to be answered only by females. Five out of six females answered the question. Nine out of 11 answered question twelve. Six out of 11 answered question thirteen. Eight out of 11 answered question fourteen. Seven out of 11 answered question fifteen. 10 out of 11 answered question sixteen. One out of 11 answered question seventeen.

There were two people that chose to remain anonymous. Zero out of two answered questions one. Zero out of two answered questions two. Two out of two answered question three. Two out of two answered question four. Two out of two answered question five. Two out of two answered question six. Two out of two answered question seven. Two out of two answered question eight. Two out of two answered question nine. Two out of two answered question ten. Zero out of two answered questions eleven. Two out of two answered question twelve. One out of two answered question thirteen. Two out of two answered question fourteen. Two out of two answered question fifteen. Two out of two answered question sixteen. One out of two answered question seventeen.

The survey questions were also were also rated on their degree of intimacy. The three levels of intimacy are public, personal, and intimate. The following is the results of the ratings: Question numbers one, two, three, four, and six and seven were rated as a public degree of intimacy. Question numbers five; eight, ten, twelve, sixteen, and seventeen were rated as being a private degree of intimacy. Question numbers nine; eleven, thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen were rated as an intimate degree of intimacy.

Results can be better understood by viewing the graphs at the end of the paper.

Discussion

This study attempted to answer the question; "To what extent does anonymity affect the amount of personal information a person will disclose?" The results the researcher obtained did not closely relate to what many others have found. However there were some similarities.

Afifi and Guerrero (1998) explored avoidance in topics of discussion. They concluded that the issues many people avoided were negative life experiences and relationship issues, as well as sexual experiences. This study found that participants avoided answering questions on the same topics in her survey. One might wonder if the participants in our researcher's study avoided topics for the same reason as Afifi and Guerrero (1998) found in their study. Based on the premise that participants avoided topics for self-protection, their research indicates that this aspect could be researched in futures studies that expand upon this one.

Golish (2000) obtained results in his study that could be a factor in the results obtained in this study. His study dealt with stepfamilies and avoidance. Golish (2000) found that the more satisfied participants were with their stepfamilies, overall the less avoidance they were likely to use. Perhaps this is why our researcher obtained the results she did. The researcher found that many of her participants were willing to disclose personal information about them. One might wonder if they did so because they are satisfied in their personal relationships. Does that mean that those who did not chose to disclose as much information are not satisfied in their personal relationships? Again these are question that have been raised by recent research and can be researched further in future studies.

However, results of this study tend to be more inconclusive just like those of Dindia, Fitzpatrick and Kenny (1997). Their results showed that individuals were inconsistent in how much they self-disclosed to others. The researcher in this study found that there was no consistency in how much information participants seemed to disclose. Contrary to results of prior research, there seemed to be no pattern to the answers.

The researcher was expecting to come to the conclusion Professor Blonna did in his study, and was surprised to find almost the opposite was tbe case. Professor Blonna found that people are more willing to disclose personal information when their identity is unknown. However, the results in this study showed that those that disclosed the most personal information also identified themselves. Why? Perhaps because the students in Professor Blonna's class felt as if they were going to benefit by revealing such personal information. They were getting support and understanding from individuals with have experienced similar experiences. The subjects in this study had nothing to gain by disclosing such personal information about themselves like those in Professor Blonna's class

One of the most significant findings of this study was the extreme offense some of the participants exhibited when asked to fill out the survey. There were six people; all female that refused to take part in the study after reading the survey questions. These same women voiced their disapproval of the survey to the researcher. This is an aspect researchers might want to pursue in the future. Why did women find the survey more offensive than male participants did? Does society play a role in this reasoning? This is contrary to what Shaffer and Pegails (1991) found. Their study showed that women are more likely to disclose personal information than men are because "society" perceives it as more appropriate. Perhaps the researcher obtained her results because the women in her study were not going to benefit from the growth in a relationship by revealing such personal information.

The fact that most participants put their name on the survey also needs to be explored. Did they do so because they wanted to? Perhaps because the directions said to not answer any question that they did not feel comfortable answering and participants did not view "name" as a question. Therefore. They might have felt obligated to do so. There is also the possibility that even though a number of participants did answer all the questions they might not have answered honestly. Researchers can only trust their subjects are honest when participating in a study and remember that their findings are not necessarily concrete.

Another interesting finding in this study was the fact that questions seventeen that was the least answered question. This question was only rated as private on the intimacy scale. The question being, "What is your annual income?" Many participants chose not to answer this question but did answer questions that were rated as intimate such as questions relating to sexual history. The researcher found this to be very surprising. The reason could be that the majority of participants were all employed at the same company, and they might have feared that their fellow employees would have learned their salary even though results were promised to be confidential.

Perhaps the researcher got the results she did because often those people that are willing to participate are looking to be helpful. The subjects in this study believed that the researcher was looking for content of the answers rather than if the questions were simply answered. Therefore, they might have chosen to answer all the questions just to be helpful to the researcher. Another factor that might have influenced the researcher's results is the environment in which the participants filled out the survey. They were eating lunch at the time and might have wanted to rush through the survey. Many might not have taken the time to read the directions that stated that every question did not have to be answered.

If the researcher were to complete this study again she would do a few things differently. A more diverse group of participants might help in obtaining more conclusive results. Randomly handing out surveys in a shopping mall parking lot might have allowed for a diverse group of participants. She would also try to approach prospective participants when they did not appear rushed for time as they were in the present study.

Upon completing this study several things were learned. It is often difficult in getting subjects to fill out surveys, especially when the questions are extremely personal. After being verbally attacked several times by women that were asked to fill out a survey, apprehension builds before having to ask the next prospective participant. This is a lesson that will better prepare oneself the next time one is looking to pass out a survey.

An important lesson to remember is that you might not always get the results you anticipated obtaining no matter how certain you think you are. One would never have thought so many people were willing to disclose such personal information about them after choosing to identify themselves. This was an extremely shocking discovery.

Conclusion

Considerable evidence has been collected to illustrate that self-disclosure is an important factor in the development of interpersonal relationships. In fact, self-disclosure is the most commonly reported aspect in definitions of closeness. (Afifi and Guerrero 1998). However, many topics are considered to be taboo and are therefore not disclosed for fear of crossing boundaries that society has created. The fact that we practice avoidance of facing negative reactions from others does have effects on our relationships; this is where anonymity has a definitive effect on one's self-disclosure. The fear of negative consequences arising form self-disclosure appears to be non-existent when we are not linked to them, disguised by anonymity. In the same respect, one will not gain certain benefits of a relationship by avoiding self-disclosure. One might tend to believe that the participants in this study that did identify themselves likely did not fear any ill effects from disclosing their personal information. His or her disclosures were promised to remain anonymous to everyone except for the researcher. The studies used in this research have created many new questions that need to be answered, and one can only hope that researchers will continue to explore this topic in the future, as it proves to be useful in understanding the development of relationships.

References

Afifi, Walid A., & Guerrero, Laura K. (1998). Some things are better left unsaid II: Topic avoidance in friendships. Communication Quarterly, 46, 231-249.

Carr, Sarah (2000). Students appear more willing to discuss personal health issues online. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 4, 67-68.

Dindia, Kathryn, Fitzpatrick, MaryAnne, Kenny, David A. (1997). Self-Disclosure in spouse and stranger interaction: A social relations analysis. Human Communication Research, 23, 388-412.

Ellingson K. & Galassi, J.P. (1995). Testing two theoretical explanations for the attraction enhancing effects of self-disclosure. Journal of Counseling and Development, 73, 535-542.

Golish, Tamara D. (2000). Is openness always better? Exploring the role of topic avoidance, satisfaction and parenting styles of stepparents. Communication Quarterly, 46, 231-249.

Lucchetti, Anne E. (1999). Deception in disclosing one's sexual history: Safe-Sex avoidance or ignorance? Communication Quarterly, 47, 300-314.

Shaffer, D. & Pegalis, L. (1992). Gender and self-disclosure revisited: Personal and contextual variation in self-disclosure to same-sex acquaintances. Journal of Social Psychology, 132, 307-316.

Shaw, Carla L. Marlaham (1997). Personal Narrative: Revealing self and reflecting other. Human Communication research, 24, 302-319.

Stamp, G. (1999). A Qualitatively constructed interpersonal communication model. Human Communication Research, 25, 531-548.