Self-disclosure, or the process of conveying one's details to others verbally, is crucial for communication. Self-disclosure includes expressing personal information, thoughts, and feelings. It encompasses self-expression and clarification, social validation and control, as well as relationship development, and is closely related to reciprocity, intimacy, trust, interactional enjoyment, and satisfaction.
In recent years, technological advancements have paved the way for new forms of communication, including video-conferencing and embodied virtual reality (VR). It is indispensable to shed light on the phenomenon of self-disclosure in this context to better understand relationship building and mental health.
With this goal, a team of researchers from Japan, led by Professor Junko Ichino from Waseda University (affiliated to Tokyo City University, Japan, at the time of study), including Mr. Masahiro Ide from the Tokyo City University and TIS Inc., Professor Hitomi Yokoyama from Okayama University of Science, Professor Hirotoshi Asano from Kogakuin University, and Professors Hideo Miyachi and Daisuke Okabe from Tokyo City University, has explored the effects of new communication media and gender on self-disclosure. Their findings were published online in Behaviour & Information Technology on June 4, 2025.
Prof. Ichino explains the motivation behind their research, "When I tried accessing VRChat, a social VR platform that gained popularity in Japan around 2017, I was surprised by the lack of polite or superficial conversation and the presence of freedom and directness of communication. I felt that these people would never interact like this in the real world, which led me to become interested in virtual spaces as a place for communication."
