Anxiety-Uncertainty Management Theory
Yang Du/ Fangqin Li
"Individuals attempt to reduce uncertainty in initial interactions with
strangers."--Berger and Calabrese
Strangers are those people who are different because they are members of other groups.
People act in a way that is different than one's own culture. When encountered with
strangers, individuals experience uncertainty and anxiety.
Uncertainty includes the doubts we have about our ability to predict the outcome of our
encounters with strangers, and also includes doubts we have about the past.
Anxiety is the feeling of being uneasy, tense, worried, or apprehensive about what might
happen.
Initial Encounters- This is your first interaction with a stranger. At this time decisions
are made whether you wish to obtain information and reduce the uncertainty or leave
things as they are.
The causes of anxiety and uncertainty
1. Self-Concept; 2.Motivation to Interact; 3.Reactions to Strangers; 4.Social
Categorization of Strangers; 5. Situation Processes; 6.Connections with Strangers; 7.
Ethical Interactions
There are three General Strategies for Reducing Uncertainty
1.Passive Strategy- doing nothing and hoping that as time passes things will become clearer.
2. Active Strategy- finding out as much as possible from other people.
3. Interactive strategy- seeking out opportunities to interact with people. Using those occasions, you
can obtain as much information as possible.
Effective Communication
It refers to the process of minimizing misunderstandings.
“Communication is effective to the extent that the person interpreting the message
attaches a meaning to the message that is relatively similar to what was intended by the
person transmitting it.” –Gudykunst
Mindfulness
“It means being open to new information and recognizing that the other person may have
a different perspective than we do.”—Langer
Four levels of communication competence
1. Unconscious incompetence; 2.Conscious
competence; 4.Unconscious competence
incompetence;
3.
Conscious
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