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Uncertainty Reduction Theory
Uncertainty Reduction Theory
Introduction.
A. Charles Berger notes that the beginnings of personal relationships are fraught with
uncertainties.
B. Uncertainty reduction theory focuses on how human communication is used to gain
knowledge and create understanding.
C. Any of three prior conditionsanticipation of future interaction, incentive value, or
deviancecan boost our drive to reduce uncertainty.
II.
III.
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IV.
V.
VI.
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Principal Changes
Aside from light editing, this chapter remains the same.
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do this, he asks eight volunteers representing the eight axioms to stand next to chairs at the
front of the class. Next, he has student onerepresenting axiom oneraise his or her hand to
represent increasing verbal communication.
Correspondingly, the other volunteers
representing the remaining seven axiomswill either raise their hands to indicate positive
correlation or sit to indicate negative correlation. In this instance, two, three, seven, six, and
eight will raise their hands; and three and five will sit. Once the volunteers get the hang of this
theorem machine, their responses will help vivify the movement from axioms to theorems that
is so crucial to the logic of this theory. Finally, Griffin likes to speculate with his class about the
possibility that axiom three is inaccurate. If this is the case, then the theorem machine
insightfully illustrates the consequences.
Further Resources
A recent application of uncertainty reduction theory is Tara M. Emmers and Daniel
Canarys The Effect of Uncertainty Reducing Strategies on Young Couples Relational Repair
and Intimacy, Communication Quarterly 44 (Spring 1996): 166-82. William Gudykunst
assesses uncertainty reduction theory in The Uncertainty Reduction and Anxiety-Uncertainty
Reduction Theories of Berger, Gudykunst, and Associates, Watershed Research Traditions in
Human Communication Theory, 67-100. Another essay of interest is Charles Berger and
Nancy Kellerman, Acquiring Social Information, in John Daly and John Wiemann, Strategic
Interpersonal Communication, 1-31. Walid A. Afifi and Josephine W. Lee apply Bergers theory
of planing in Balancing Instrumental and Identity Goals in Relationships: The Role of Request
Directness and Request Persistence in the Selection of Sexual Resistance Strategies,
Communication Monographs 67 (September 2000): 284-305. In Communication in the
Management of Uncertainty: The Case of Persons Living with HIV or AIDS, Communication
Monographs 67 (March 2000): 63-84, Dale E. Brashers et al. discuss a theory of management
of uncertainty in which the desire to reduce uncertainty is assumed to be only one of several
responses to events and circumstances marked by unpredictability, ambiguity, or insufficient
information (64).
SAMPLE EXAM QUESTIONS are not included in online version of Instructors Manual
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