Running head: SOCIAL PENETRATION THEORY & THE BREAKFAST CLUB
Social Penetration Theory & The Breakfast Club
Regent University
Ashley King
Com 245
16 April 2014
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Running head: SOCIAL PENETRATION THEORY & THE BREAKFAST CLUB
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Social Penetration Theory & The Breakfast Club
You see us as you want to see us, in the simplest terms, and the most convenient definitions.
You see us as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal. Correct? That’s
the way we saw each other at 7:00 this morning. We were brainwashed.
-The Breakfast Club, 1985
The Breakfast Club is a movie about friendships, five high school students forced to
confront each other. The social penetration theory is exemplified in the film The Breakfast Club
through the characters’ process of self-disclosure and their development intimacy with each
other. This paper will define the social penetration theory, provide a brief context of the film and
examine the layers of personality structure that Irwin Altman and Dalmas Taylor outline in their
theory with the coinciding aspects of the movie where each character exposes this layer of
themselves.
Social Penetration Theory, Personality Structure and Self-Disclosure
First, let’s begin by defining the social penetration theory, personality structure and selfdisclosure. The process from strangers to friends to loved ones can be complicated, but “…social
psychologists Irwin Altman and Dalmas Taylor proposed a social penetration process that
explains how relational closeness develops” and was developed into the social penetration
theory (Griffin, 2012, p. 114). Chen and Nakazawa remark that “Theoretically [the] social
penetration theory provides the most commonly cited linkage between self-disclosure and
relationship development” (2009, p. 78). Em Griffin defines SPT as “the process of developing
deeper intimacy with another person through mutual self-disclosure and other forms of
vulnerability” (Griffin, 2012, p. 114).
In their model process of relationship development is the penetration into the many layers
of a person’s personality, the personality structure. Personality structure, according to Griffin, is
the “Onion-like layers of beliefs and feelings about self, others, and the world; deeper layers are
Running head: SOCIAL PENETRATION THEORY & THE BREAKFAST CLUB
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more vulnerable, protected, and central to self-image” (Griffin, 2012, p. 114). People, like
onions, do not simply break open and share the core of who they are, the center of them is
precious and protected.
The slow process of self-disclosure is “…the main route to deep social penetration…” the
way to peel back or penetrate the layers surrounding the center (Griffin, 2012, p. 114). Griffin
defines self-disclosure as “The voluntary sharing of personal history, preferences, attitude,
feelings, values, secrets, etc., with another person; transparency” (Griffin, 2012, p. 114). But
disclosure is not simply spouting information about oneself, “amount and depth of disclosure are
key elements of social penetration….As relationships gain in intimacy, according to the theory,
messages become more frequent and detailed…” (Rubin, 1993, p. 117). In their article regarding
self-disclosure, social penetration and intercultural friendships, Chen and Nakazawa remark,
“One of the key features of friendship formation and maintenance is self-disclosure…” (78).
Self-disclosure brings communicators to a place of intimacy, it can be but is not always a direct
process and there are many factors that influence self-disclosure. Reaching the core of a person is
not a one stop shop, but self-disclosure must be habitual to maintain intimacy.
Context: The Breakfast Club Overview and Background
To properly understand the theory’s supplication and integration, the context of the film
must be understood. The Breakfast Club was released in 1985 and follows “Five high school
students, all different stereotypes… [who] meet in detention, where they pour their hearts out to
each other, and discover how they have a lot more in common than they thought” (IMBd The
Breakfast Club, 1985). It was written and directed by John Hughes, a popular 80s director. The
movie starred Emilio Estevez, Paul Gleason, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly
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Ringwald and Ally Sheedy. The major theme of the film is friendship and overcoming social
barriers.
Application of Theory to Film: How is it integrated?
Each character does not disclose layers at the same time as the other, but generally they
do. Bender and Allison are slight exceptions, because Bender is quicker to disclose and push
others to disclose, while Allison remains quite anonymous after the others have disclosed.
Therefore, the following application generally follows the entire group’s disclosure throughout
the film, but it must be noted that the characters vary in their timing and breadth of disclosure.
Biographical Data
The first application is the layer “Biographical Data”(Griffin, 2012, p. 115). The
characters spend the most time in this layer. John Bender fuels its discussion and disclosure
comes through stereotypes and preconceived notions about each other that the students express.
Andrew is consistently referred to as “Sporto”, Bender a “faggot”, Claire as a socialite and Brian
as an academic “dork” (Hughes, n.d.). This is fueled from the information sent by the students’
clothing, attitude and the social groups they are a part of at the school. Self-disclosure is not only
words, but “‘any message about the self that a person communicates to another’", including
nonverbal expressions (Rubin, 1993, p. 117). The students only see “brain, an athlete, a basket
case, a princess and a criminal” (Hughes, n.d.). In their article, Chen and Nakazawa discuss
influences of culture on social penetration and state that, “As norms and ideas about what
constitutes friendship are learned…individuals learn early on to make in-group and out-group
distinctions…“” (Chen, 2009, p. 78)and that is how the first layer is penetrated. Bender begins a
discussion regarding clubs at their school and shows the differences between Claire and Brian.
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While they both a members of school organizations, Brian is in the academic clubs, while Claire
is in the social ones.
There is a scene when John Bender is tearing apart a book and mispronounces the French
author’s name. Claire corrects him and Brian remarks that he loves his work, while Andy is
stretching on the handrail and Allison is alone at the table. This scene underlines the social
differences between the characters, but shows the beginning of interactions. It implies that
Bender is less-educated and destructive, Claire is privileged to know the information, Brian
genuinely likes the literature, Andy is preoccupied and Allison is a loner, but the conversation
begins the process of self-disclosure into the second layer of personality: Preferences in clothes,
food, and music.
Preferences in Clothes, Food, Music etc.
Before and during the lunch scene, Bender presses Claire to share about her relations
with men. The group begins discussing their households and dating preferences. But the lunch
scene shows their preferences and information about their lives symbolically through their
lunches. The group is propelled into the next layer by Bender, who shares about his abusive
household and the group finally senses genuine information being disclosed.
Goals & Aspirations / Convictions
Despite their differences, the group pushes into the next layer of the personality structure:
goals and aspirations. It is in this layer that the group begins to trust each other which is seen in
the scene where the group is going Bender’s locker and the subsequent scene of Bender
sacrificing himself to be caught by Vernon so the others are not. The group thinks Bender is
highly selfish and desires trouble, but he shows that his convictions lie deeper than that and he is
willing to sacrifice himself for them. The others value not getting in trouble with and pleasing
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authority: their parents and Vernon. Beyond this, the group’s goals and aspirations are not clearly
defined or even concretely disclosed, because they connect and gain intimacy in their lack of
goals and aspirations. They are all engrossed in what their parents or peers think, that they have
not developed goals and aspirations for themselves as individuals.
As far as convictions and even further, religious convictions, the group does not disclose
many. They are portrayed as products of their families and social spheres who are beginning to
discover themselves as individuals. This is seen in the scene when Bender goes to another part of
the library to smoke marijuana. Bender is open to risk and the others are not, but it does not take
much for the rest of them to follow him and join him in smoking. The goals, aspirations and
convictions layer is unclear in the characters’ lives, but they disclose this uncertainty. With the
realization that they are each in the same place allows for the next layer to be penetrated and
deeper intimacy to develop.
Deeply Held Fears and Fantasies
The next layer is penetrated in the groups by Allison’s comment, “My home life is
unsatisfying” (IMBd The Breakfast Club, 1985). Within the scene of the group smoking, they
probe each other with questions and the layer of fears and fantasies begins to emerge, slightly
mixed with convictions.The group’s ability to easily go with Bender and smoke marijuana, while
slightly reluctant, shows that they all desire to fit in and to be accepted. This desire shows the
fear of being an outsider which has been a theme throughout the entire film.
Bender and Claire discuss each other’s love lives and the convictions they have about
dating. Claire asks Bender, “You don’t believe in just one guy one girl?” and he responds that he
dates many girls. Also, Brian and Andy listen to Allison’s disclosure as she talks about the items
in her purse and how she feels. She says “I’ll do what I have to do” to get away from her home
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life, revealing her fantasy of leaving (IMBd The Breakfast Club, 1985). This scene shows that
the students are beginning to like each other and, “‘Researchers consistently find a positive
relationship between self-disclosure and liking…As liking increases, self-disclosure is apt to
increase” (Rubin, 1993, p. 117).
The group connects in the scene when they are all sitting down and Claire asks what they
would do for a million bucks from this conversation the group begins to divulge their fantasies
and feelings about relationship. This scene mostly reveals Claire and Allison’s fantasies, but with
Claire’s line, “No! I never did it!” and Allison’s response, “I never did it either, I’m not a
nymphomaniac…I’m a compulsive liar…” Allison’s disclosure starts the group into revealing
their concepts of self (Hughes, n.d.).
Concept of Self
The innermost layer of personality is breached when shares why he is in detention.
After Allison saying that he cannot think for himself, he starts into the story of abusing another
student to please his father, who burdens him with pressure to perform in wrestling. The
intimacy of this level is seen in Bender’s response to Andrew’s deep disclosure, “I think your old
man and my old man should get together and go bowling” (Hughes, n.d.). The attitude of their
relationship has developed from hostile and competing, to relatable and finding commonality
with the disclosure of this layer. Also, Claire prompts Brian into sharing why he is there and
after disclosing that he is failing shop class, the rest of the group discloses why they are in
detention and the way that they see themselves through it. While the environment still
occasionally becomes hostile with judgment, the group connects and allows themselves to be
vulnerable and really see each other. In this moment the concept that “… Their self-disclosure is
influenced not only by the desired and predicted outcome, but also by the situation and their
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awareness of the situation. (Rubin, 1993, p. 117). The proximity and nature of detention nurtured
their intimacy.
The group bonds over their lack of a sense of self and security in who they are. All four
of them divulge how their parents have failed them and how they do not want to end up like
them, but the audience can see they also connect in their reluctant desire to be approved of and
loved. In the self-disclosed feelings of wanting to fit in the students reveal how confused each of
them actually are about who they are and why they are the way they are: judging each other over
social groups and not accepting people who are different than themselves. In their
disappointment and angst, they see each other truly and develop real friendships, which social
penetration theory states must be maintained or the social penetration process will work
backward through the personality structure.
Application Discussion
The social penetration theory is portrayed clearly in The Breakfast Club. The
biographical and outermost layers flowed easily from the group and then the innermost, hidden
and protected layers came slowly and after the group spent close hours together. The film
coincides with Altman and Taylor’s observations of the social penetration process. The
“Peripheral items are exchanged more frequently and sooner than private information”
observation is seen in the very first scenes. Also, the reciprocity of self-disclosure is seen in the
competitive communication, because when one student shares something they expect that the
person listening will share the same information to the same degree. Chen and Nakazawa write
that, “…self-disclosure is often used strategically to regulate the development of a
relationship…” (Chen, 2009, p. 78). The slowing of disclosure was also portrayed in the film as
communicators reach the inner layers. But in these innermost layers the students began to enjoy
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eachother, and studies have shown that “… as the intimacy of self-disclosure increases, affinity
increases…” (Rubin, 1993, p. 117). The film follows the observation of Altman and Taylor
regarding the theory, except one: depenetration. Will the group remain friends? According to
Altman and Taylor “…it all depends on the cost-benefit analysis that each man performs as he
considers the possibility of a closer relationship” (Griffin 117). So, projecting the theory further
than the film, the students will perform this analysis in school on Monday with their social
circles back around them and decide whether or not to retreat from the intimacy developed in
detention.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the social penetration theory is the process of relationship development
and is exemplified in the film The Breakfast Club through the characters’ process of selfdisclosure and their development of intimacy with each other. As a group they prompt each other
to disclose topics within each layer and development affinity through the intimacy they reach.
The film follows Altman and Taylor’s observations regarding disclosure, except one:
depenetration. Whether the characters will maintain their developed intimacy or choose to
depenetrate from it remains in question as the credits roll.
You see us as you want to see us… In the simplest terms, in the most convenient
definitions…But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain [Brian]...and an athlete
[Andrew]…and a basket case [Allison]… a princess [Claire]…and a criminal [Bender]…Does
that answer your question? Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club.
-The Breakfast Club, 1985
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References
Chen, Y. &. (2009). Influences of Culture on Self-Disclosure as Relationally Situated in
Intercultural and Interracial Friendships from a Social Penetration Perspective. Journal of
Intercultural Communication Research, 77-98.
Griffin, E. (2012). A First Look at Communication Theory (8th ed.). (S. Gouijnstook, Ed.) New
York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Hughes, J. (n.d.). The Breakfast Club. Retrieved from The Daily Script:
http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/breakfast_club.html
IMBd The Breakfast Club. (1985, February 15). Retrieved from IMBd:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088847/?ref_=nv_sr_1
Rubin, R. A. (1993). The Role of Self-Disclosure and Self-Awareness in Affinity-Seeking
Competence. Communication Research Reports, 115-127.