ALTMAN An Assessment 1

An Assessment and Critical Evaluation of the Contribution of Irwin Altman

Heidi Fallon

Susquehanna University Selinsgrove PA

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An Assessment and Critical Evaluation of the Contribution of Irwin Altman

Communication is an important part of our society. We use some form of communication

every day, whether it is actually speaking, hand movements, facial expressions, or even body

language. By communicating with others, we build relationships and learn more about people to

more we talk to them. Irwin Altman is a communication theorist that has spent his life studying

the way humans interact when it comes to being in a relationship.

Irwin Altman was born on June 16, 1930 in New York City. He studied at New York

University and then received his M.A and Ph.D. degree from The University of Maryland. His

main focuses were close relationships and social psychology. Since 1969 Altman has been a

professor in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Utah. While a part

of their faculty:

“He served as Chairman of the Department of Psychology (1969-1976), Dean of the

College of Social and Behavioral Science (1979-1983), Vice President of Academic Affairs

(1983-1987) and was appointed as Distinguished Professor of Psychology in 1988.  He also held

an appointment as Professor of Family and Consumer Studies, and Adjunct Professor of

Communications at the University of Utah.  He received several awards from the University,

including the University’s highest honor, the Rosenblatt Prize for Excellence.” (the University of

Utah)

Altman also received many awards while working at the University. He was awarded

Distinguished Scholarly and Creative Research Award, David P. Gardner Research Fellowship,

Distinguished Service Award (Graduate School of Social Work), Presidential Teaching Scholar
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Award, Distinguished Honors Teaching Professor Award, University of Utah Diversity Award,

Superior Research Award from the College of Social and Behavioral Science, and awards from

Psi Chi (undergraduate Psychology Honor Society). Altman’s many years at Utah brought him a

lot of recognition from his colleagues and students.

The most prestigious award he was given was the Rosenblatt Prize for Excellence in

1988, which is an award given to a faculty member of the University of Utah, “to honor

excellence in teaching, research and administrative efforts, collectively or individually, or behalf

of the university”. The Rosenblatt family wants the award to not only benefit the recipient

personally, because of the fifty-thousand-dollar prize money, but to benefit them in the

workplace and community around the University. Another professor at Utah explains that

Altman was a thoughtful and wise teacher, and that is why he deserved the Rosenblatt Prize.

Before given the Rosenblatt award,

Altman developed the Social Penetration

Theory. This theory is his best know work.

The theory is a developmental theory, and it

shows the coming together and the coming

apart of a relationship between two people.

Whether these people are friends or

significant others, the relationship starts with

both people as strangers. “Altman and Taylor metaphorically described people as onions that

have wedges, or areas, of personality, each of which has multiple layers of progressive depth”

(Wood, 2004, pg. 200). When forming a relationship, we slowly peel back our layers. Starting

with the superficial layer, when we share our likes and dislikes, music, and clothes. Then the
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middle layers or intimate as stated in the picture above, we share our political views and social

attitudes. After that we hit the inner layers or personal layer, and we share information like

spiritual values, deep fears, hopes, goals, fantasies, and secrets. And after that we hit the core

where we share our true self.

The metaphorical onion only showed the positive progression of a relationship

and not the turning points or trajectories. So, after eight years Altman and his colleagues

revisited the original model. “Altman and his colleagues acknowledged that the original model

erred in portraying relationship as following an uninterrupted path toward greater openness and

intimacy” (Wood, 2004, pg. 201). They realized that relationships are not just a straight line, they

are a development that is continuously being

pressured. Within a relationship, we want it

to be perfect, but Altman says, “That the

developmental course of relationships

involves a continuous tension between

desires for greater openness and intimacy and

desires for independence and closedness”

(Wood, 2004, pg. 201). A couple can’t live

the exact same life, people have their

differences and need their space sometimes.

A lot of times when someone needs their

space is when the tension can build and cause

problems.
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Altman takes a humanistic approach on this theory because it looks at the interaction

between humans in a relationship. He takes into consideration the verbal/no-verbal and

formal/informal communication between two people and explains how it can move their

relationship forward. However, in the first generation of the Social Penetration Theory, he

assumes that all relationships are the same. When James Honeycutt develops the Second-

Generation Developmental Theory, he wrote that the movement of a relationship is guided by the

individuals’ thoughts of the relationship. He mentions that every relationship has its trajectories

and turning points, whether they are positive or negative. A Trajectory is defined as the idea that

we use past experiences/relationships to define the movement of our current relationship. A

Turning point is defined as the communication that can radically impact the path of the

relationship. Honeycutt’s take on his theory is both scientific and humanistic, because he has

research that supports his claim, and it involves the interaction between two people and the path

of their relationship.

We still use the Social Penetration Theory today, they have modernized it to now look at

the interaction on the internet.

“Social Penetration Theory is being used in today’s modern world to study electronic

interactions on the Internet through social media sites and chat rooms. On the one hand, people

who meet online are often unable to predict how a person will react to certain types of

information, making the cost of self-disclosure difficult to evaluate. On the other hand, the

impersonal nature of communicating through a screen may mitigate the cost of sharing intimate

information, thus making self-disclosure more likely” (2012, September 20).

Because technology is constantly changing, and social media progresses, the way humans

form relationships is constantly changing. Altman developed the Social Penetration theory in
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1973, back then there was no Instagram, Snapchat, or online dating sites. Now a lot of

communication is through phones and humans don’t have the face to face contact we used too.

In a person’s lifetime, they form many relationships. In relation to my own life, it takes

me longer to open up to someone. Like Altman states in the social penetration theory, everyone

has multiple layers and a relationship grows stronger the more you communicate with someone. I

look at all the relationships I have formed in my life, between friends, boyfriends, family, and

even the failed relationships. I believe that people are like an onion, one step at a time you peel

back the layers. However, in most cases a relationship does not move in an upward spiral or

linear. Some relationships fall apart, and some can be a little rough. Relationships have their

turning points, whether they are positive or negative they can completely change the direction of

the path two people are on.

In my own life, I have seen relationships and formed my own that have not followed the

linear path that Altman outlines. For example, my parents have been happy married for twenty-

five years, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t face challenges. They still face challenges, they

have three kids including myself, which they have put all of us through college and help us as

much as they can. My parents are very open with each other and it keeps them from straying too

far from their path. In a past relationship of mine, I hit a turning point with my boyfriend where

he moved across the country and it cause us to grow apart. We are currently not dating anymore

but we still keep in touch. If I am being honest, I look at current relationships and compare them

to him, which is negatively impacting my current ones.

I believe that in my life, the relationships I have created follow Honeycutt’s model more

than Altman’s. I have had friendships that go in a linear pattern, and follow the onion metaphor,

however I have never had an intimate relationship that follows it. Altman accomplished many
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things in his career, he won many awards and is known for a famous communication theory.

There are people that do follow this theory, and it is continuously changing as society does too.

References

Department of Psychology. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://psych.utah.edu/newsletter/fall-

2016/department-news/irwin-altman-award.php

Department of Psychology. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://psych.utah.edu/newsletter/fall-

2016/department-news/irwin-altman-award.php

Plous, S. (n.d.). Irwin Altman. Retrieved from https://altman.socialpsychology.org/research

Wood, J. T. (2004). Communication: Theories in action.(3rd ed.). Boston, MA:

Thomson/Wadsworth.

Social Penetration Theory. (2012, September 20). Retrieved from

https://www.communicationstudies.com/communication-theories/social-penetration-theory
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Rosenblatt. (n.d.). Rosenblatt Prize. Retrieved from https://www.rosenblattprize.utah.edu/

Picture: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Relationships-layers-according-to-Social-

Penetration-Theory-2_fig2_261271664