UNCERTAINTY REDUCTION THEORY Chapter 10

UNCERTAINTY REDUCTION What happens at the beginning of interpersonal relationships? Theorist: Charles Berger Uncertainty Reduction: focuses on how human communication is used to gain knowledge and create understanding.

3 PRIOR CONDITIONS 1. Anticipation of future interaction 2. Incentive value 3. Deviance Any of the conditions can boot our drive to reduce uncertainty.

UNCERTAINTY REDUCTION Theory: attempts to predict and explain. Two types of uncertainty 1. Behavioral questions 2. Cognitive questions

AXIOMS Axiom 1: as the amount of verbal communication between strangers increases, the level of uncertainty decreases, and, as a result, verbal communication increases.

AXIOMS Axiom 2; as nonverbal affiliative expressiveness increases, uncertainty levels will decrease. Decreases in uncertainty level will cause increases in nonverbal affiliative expressiveness.

AXIOMS Axiom 3; high levels of uncertainty causes increases in information seeking behavior. As uncertainty levels decline, information-seeking behavior decreases.

AXIOMS Axiom 4, self-disclosure: High levels of uncertainty in a relationship cause decreases in the intimacy level of communication content. Low levels of uncertainty produce high levels of intimacy.

AXIOMS Axiom 5, reciprocity: High levels of uncertainty produce high rates of reciprocity. Low levels of uncertainty produce low levels of reciprocity.

AXIOMS Axiom 6, similarity: Similarities between persons reduce uncertainty, while dissimilarities produce increases in uncertainty. Axiom 7, liking: Increases in uncertainty level produce decreases in liking; decreases in uncertainty produce increases in liking.

AXIOMS Axiom 8, shared networks: Shared communication networks reduce uncertainty, while a lack of shared networks increases uncertainty.

THEOREMS Theorems: the logical force of uncertainty axioms. 28 Theorems The theorems suggest a comprehensive theory of interpersonal development based on the importance of reducing uncertainty in human interaction

UNCERTAINTY REDUCTION Seek Information –Passive, active, interactive Choose plan Complexity –Detailed, simple Hedge if necessary –Saving face

UNCERTAINTY REDUCTION The hierarchy hypothesis: When individuals are thwarted in their attempts to achieve goals, their first tendency is to alter lower-level elements of their message.