COMM 2F50 Lecture 7: Uncertainty Reduction Theory
9 Mar 2017
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Document Summary
Objective: test hypothesis: new interpersonal situations, people are like scientists. Uncertainty: people don"t like it, drive to reduce it increases in different situations. Influences our communication: anticipation of future interactions. Uncertainty reduction: using communication to gather information about others so you can explain and predict their behaviour, eight axioms. Correlation: positive: if a goes up, b goes up, negative: if a goes up, b goes down, have to be able to quantify it. If two things are unrelated, they will not go up and down together. Self disclosure = reduces uncertainty: verbal communication = reduces uncertainty, non-verbal warmth = uncertainty levels decrease, reciprocity = high levels reduce uncertainty, more uncertainty = more information seeking, more similarity = less uncertainty, more uncertainty = less liking. Shared networks = the more networks shared, the lower the uncertainty. Information seeking strategies: passive: wait and see, active: ask around. Weakness of urt: complex: 28 different theorems, not parsimoneous.
