was predicted that participates who were most able to come to terms with their secrets during their writing would experience the greatest improvement in affect, especially those who tried to gain new insights into their secrets (658). Before they choose a topic to write about all participates answered questions on a Lickert scale similar to the first group researched.The papers written by the students were individually read by judges who were blind to the experimental conditions, during the reading of the papers the judges counted all the emotional words written in the papers.ResultsThe results of the first research project assisted the researchers in determining the privateness of the secret, the types of confidants and the different variable in the primary analyses (656) and allowed the researchers to measure to what extent a person felt before and after revealing their secret and whether or not they developed any insight or catharsis into the reason behind their secret.The results of the second research project allowed the researchers to develop an understanding of the types of secrets participates were keeping from others and with whom they shared their secrets once they decided to talk about them. The research also allowed the researchers to learn about amount of information that the participate shared with the confidant and to what extent information was revealed about the situation, once the secret holders decided to reveal their secrets to the other person.DiscussionThe research was conducted in an effort to disentangle the effects of gaining catharsis from effects of gaining new insights (662), in regards to a persons private issues in life.Study 2 showed coming to terms with personal secrets allowed individuals feel less negative, in regards to their secrets. Study 1 results showed that coming to terms with personal secrets has more positive results then catharsis. In general, the two research studies indicate that there...
