What were you worried about? Actors' concerns about revealing fears and insecurities relative to observers' reactions

In three studies, participants provided information about themselves and/or received information provided by a peer describing either personal fears and insecurities or related (but non-negative) information. The results suggest that when individuals disclose fears and insecurities, they think that others will like them less than those others in fact do. Studies 2 and 3 explored two potential sources of this effect. One involved disclosers' heightened perceptions of the negativity of their disclosures; the other involved disclosers' failure to recognize the extent to which recipients' liking for them was influenced by the apparent honesty and genuineness of their disclosures (rather than the negativity of those disclosures). The second of these two sources was supported. Implications for self-disclosure and intimacy are discussed.