The Social Penetration Theory is a theory that deals primarily with the way in which a relationship grows or proceeds. Social Penetration Theory says that if two people go into a relationship gradually from a superficial relationship to one where intimate things are being exchanged, then these two people should end up being very close if not best of friends. To be able to fully understand how this works, however, we first have to understand that people by and large are very complex. Knowing that each person is different and that a variety of things can create a different outcome, we can understand that trying to decipher a direct outcome is almost impossible.

Many people have contributed to Social Penetration Theory over the years. In order to be able to understand the theory better, I have included a review of each book and packet that I read pertaining to this theory. Each review explains how the source contributed to Social Penetration Theory, and gets a bit more specific with exactly what the author was thinking when they wrote it.

Social Penetration Theory was originally created by Irwin Altman and Dalmas Taylor. Social Penetration is a theory

In Social Exchange Theory: The Social Psychology of Groups, Thibaut and Kelley suggest that people try to predict the outcome of an interaction before it takes place. Thus, when an individual first meets another person, they mentally gauge the potential rewards and cost of friendship with that person. (49) The idea of totaling potential benefits and losses to determine behavior has been around for some time now. Since the 19th-century, when philosopher John Stuart Mill first stated his principle of utility, there’s been a compelling logic to the minimum principle of human behavior. The minimum principle claims that people seek to maximize their benefits and minimize their costs. Therefore, the higher we index a relational outcome, the more attractive we find the behavior that might make it happen. (195)

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