We examined the effects of relationship intimacy on two types of illusion of transparency when people try to convey, rather than conceal, their internal experience: the message-sender's illusion of transparency (a tendency whereby message-senders overestimate the degree to which their intentions are correctly inferred by receivers) and the message-receiver's illusion of transparency (a tendency whereby message-receivers overestimate the degree to which they correctly infer the sender's intentions). In 2 studies, senders picked up the one among five illustrations which is the best to commumicate one of four intentions. Then they judged whether the receivers would be able to correctly infer their intentions. Receivers saw the illustrations and inferred which intention the senders were trying to communicate, then judged whether they themselves would be able to correctly infer the sender's intention. Results showed both type of illusion of transparency. In addition, the magnitude of the two types of illusion of transparency was greater in intimate relationships than in non-intimate relationships. Effects related to correspondence to audience-design were not found. The results were discussed in terms of interpersonal relationships.
