Introduction Self-disclosure is one of the most researched behaviours in the communication discipline. Most interpersonal; communication scholars believe self-disclosure is a critically important communication skill because it helps relationships develop and contributes to our self-concept (West & Turner 2010; Farber 2006). Ample evidence shows that greater disclosure is related to greater emotional involvement in a relationship, and that “disclosure is central to how people define what constitutes intimacy.” Self-disclosure is personal information, shared intentionally, that another person would have trouble finding out without being told. Statements such as “I think I really like Dan,” “I am sick of family gatherings,” “I used to play profession” are all self-disclosures. Implicit in this definition is the fact that self-disclosures are verbal behaviours (Wood 2009). We do reveal information about ourselves nonverbally – for example, by dressing in certain clothes, wearing a wedding ring, or making facial expressions – but these types of revelations do not fit the definition of self-disclosure because they do not have the same intentionality as revelations told to a specific person. Features of self-disclosing Nonverbal behaviours are more generally sent – for example, everyone we come in contact with sees what we wear. Our definition highlights several important features of self-disclosing. These include intentionality, choice, personal information, risk and trust. Intentionality and choice; when you engage in self-disclosure, you choose to tell another person something about yourself (Owen, Christine & David 1994). When Mike tells Elizabeth that he fears he is not smart enough to make medical school, his disclosure is a conscious, voluntary decision to confide a vulnerability to a friend, make is not coerced to confide his concerns; rather, he freely discloses them. Although disclosures sometimes slip out unintentionally, for example when someone is drunk, overly tired, or otherwise, these “slips” do not meet our definition for a real self-disclosure. We choose whether or not to say something, and we also choose how to tell it. For instance, mike may tell Elizabeth about his fear of failing in medical school. But he may withhold the information that he did poorly on the GMAT. Mike is in control of how much information he can be able to be in his relationship with Elizabeth (Wood 2009). As we choose whether and how much to self-disclose in our interpersonal relationships, we negotiate the boundaries between privacy and openness (Sarah & Arthur 2003 ). Selectively self-disclosing helps us create the balance between what is private to ourselves, what is shared with intimates, what is closed to close friends, and what is known to many others. Private information and risk Self-disclosure information another would not be easily able to discover without being told; it must be private rather than public. Public information consists of facts that we make parts of our public image – the parts of ourselves that we present to others (Owen, Christine & David 1994). Usually, people strive to present socially approved characteristics as public information. Some researchers use