Question

1. CPM states that those who are privy to private information can avoid boundary turbulence by negotiating mutual privacy rules. Why do you think many disclosers and their confidants fail to have this discussion?

2. In Principle 2, Petronio cites five foundational criteria that affect our personal privacy rules. Which factor most shapes the rules you adopt? Is there one factor that seems to include or trump the other four? Do you think any factors should be added to the list?

Answer 1

CPM states that those who are privy to private information can avoid boundary turbulence by negotiating mutual privacy rules. Why do you think many disclosers and their confidants fail to have this discussion?

Disclosers and confidants fail to the discussion of negotiating mutual privacy rules due to prejudice and lack of awareness. The disclosers do have a preconceived opinion that the mutual privacy rules are there to protect them from an assumed set of clauses, which in real may or might not exist. They also have an insecurity that the very hesitation of having an in detail discussion shall offer the counterpart to look for something that they have no intent to look out for. The last is the stereotype. People who negotiate privacy are always considered to be individuals with an alternate face/character. This also breaks the trust between partners, team members, etc. These are found to be common in both reluctant and deliberate confidant.

In Principle 2, Petronio cites five foundational criteria that affect our personal privacy rules. Which factor most shapes the rules you adopt? Is there one factor that seems to include or trump the other four? Do you think any factors should be added to the list?

In Communication Privacy Management (CPM) the second principle states that, “people control their private information through the use of personal privacy rules”.

The factors that most shapes the rules adopted are gender, culture, motivation, risk/benefit ratio. The weak gender or the dominant gender with social insecurities with respect to the culture they have got themselves attached or exposed plays the key role, primarily. These are followed by the need for the rules or the self-rationalization on the needfulness. The last one shall be the benefits associated with the risk the individuals are willing to afford.

Since the factors are independent of each other, they do not directly impact or trump the other four.

The factor of anxiety or mental health shall be added to the list. Focus is given only towards the intrinsic traits and no focus in given to extrinsic traits, i.e. the one that is acquired due to environment. Anxiety has been a long term factor that mediates some of the key decisions.