Nancy L. Collins
Nancy Collins is a psychologist and the first author, with Lynn Carol Miller, of "Self-disclosure and liking: a meta-analytic review", published in Psychological Bulletin in 1994. At the time she was in the Department of Psychology at the State University of New York at Buffalo, as stated on the paper.
Who they are
Collins studies close relationships. The 1994 review is the work this site draws on, and it remains a reference point for any claim that telling people about yourself makes them like you.
This page records only what the papers and their published records state. Biography beyond the cited work is not given here.
Key papers
Self-disclosure and liking: a meta-analytic review (1994), with Lynn Carol Miller. The review pooled 94 effect sizes and found that people who disclose are liked more, on average by a small margin. The link was strongest in surveys of people in ongoing relationships, weaker in studies of new acquaintances, and weaker still in studies where people only read what someone had revealed. In six field studies, where a stranger disclosed something intimate in public, the person who disclosed was liked less, which the authors interpreted as a breach of social norms. Comparisons of high against moderate disclosure did not show a reliable difference.
Key ideas
The central idea is that disclosure and liking are linked, but that context decides the direction. Disclosure suits relationships and settings where it is expected, and can count against a person where it is not. The review also cautions against the popular idea that deeper disclosure always works better.
Sources
- Collins, N. L., & Miller, L. C. (1994). Self-disclosure and liking: a meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 116(3), 457-475. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.116.3.457