Social penetration theory could be linked to Byrne and Clore's (1970) reward/need satisfaction theory, as it shows how increasing likes for an individual can help build close relationships. The theory suggests that individuals have certain demands to satisfy, for example emotional, sexual, financial and social needs. In this case, self-disclosure meets the emotional and social need. Byrne and Clore suggest that romantic relationships develop through classical and operant conditioning. If some individuals associate positive feelings with another individual, they are more likely to view them as attractive and want to be with them. Additionally, if this same individual rewards and reinforces his behavior, he will again be judged more attractive and the other person will want to be around him. Therefore, if a person discloses personal information and someone reciprocates, it promotes positive feelings. This also rewards them for revealing this information and thus the person reciprocating will be more appreciated and the primary individual will want to be around them more. Research by Griffit and Guay (1969) supports this theory. Their participants were evaluated on a creative task, after which they were asked to rate how much they liked the experimenter who evaluated them. Participants rated the experimenter higher when he or she had been evaluated positively. By rewarding the participants, they liked the experimenter more. On top of that, participants were also asked to rate how much they liked a viewer. Bystanders were rated higher in conditions where participants' performance was rated positively. This supports the idea that individuals like people associated with...... middle of paper ... more, if the relationship is to work long term, individuals must still like the individual in order to progress . However, attraction does not always come into play, in terms of friendship, if an individual likes someone then they want to be friends with them because it reinforces their beliefs. Equality helps maintain a relationship because an individual would like to invest as much in a relationship and receive the same amount in return. Therefore, many of these studies lack ordinary realism because they were conducted in the laboratory and therefore may not be as accurate to the formation and maintenance of relationships outside of that environment. However, the work can be applied to real life as it gives a pretty good understanding of how relationships can last and/or break down. Therefore, intervention strategies could be created (e.g. marriage counseling).