Chapter 4 Making Sense of Our World Managing Uncertainty

Activate Your Brain Think of the last time something surprising happened in one of your relationships. Rate the event as positive or negative: 1= Very negative, 5=Neutral, 10=Very Positive Did the event increase your uncertainty about Your partner/friend and how he or she feels? Your own feelings? The nature of the relationship? Did the event decrease your uncertainty?

Defining Uncertainty Continuum (not simply high or low) Uncertainty = inability to predict or explain someone’s attitudes and behaviors. High Uncertainty—feeling unsure or insecure in ability to predict and explain someone’s behavior Low Uncertainty—feeling confident in ability to predict and explain someone’s behavior Continuum (not high or low) Continuum (not simply high or low)

Types of Relational Uncertainty Self Uncertainty: uncertainty about your own feelings and how involved you want to be in a relationship Partner Uncertainty: uncertainty about your partner's feelings and intentions, including whether your partner reciprocates your feelings Relationship Uncertainty: uncertainty about the general state of your relationship Relational Turbulence: the transition from a casual to committed relationship is often marked by all three types of uncertainty as couples struggle with commitment and interdependence (goal interference). (replaces pp. 95-96)

Motivation for Reducing Uncertainty Berger & Calabrese: Inability to predict what another person will do is uncomfortable, so we want to reduce uncertainty (evolutionary advantage?) Sunnafrank: Outcome values are predictions about how rewarding or unrewarding future interactions with a particular person would be. high outcome value: low outcome value: When another person is perceived to have positive outcome value, we will exert the effort to reduce uncertainty When negative outcome value, we won’t.

Personality Preferences for Certainty or Uncertainty Some people are more comfortable with uncertainty than others. Certainty-oriented people—Don’t like uncertainty (tend to ignore inconsistent information) How might this orientation affect relationships? Uncertainty-oriented people—not afraid of uncertainty (enjoy the opportunity to broaden knowledge)

Preference for Uncertainty over certainty Brashers: Uncertainty Management Theory Uncertainty can produce -- Negative emotions (anxiety) Positive emotions (not knowing is better than knowing) Neutral emotions (not important to us whether we know or not) Evident in medical situations (some people don’t want to know they have an STI or cancer) Evident in relationships (taboo topics) Evident in cross-sex friendships

Theory of Motivated Information Management Individuals are only motivated to manage uncertainty when there is a discrepancy between the information they have and the level of certainty they want. If there is a discrepancy, individuals decide whether and how to seek information based on: the outcome expectancy (positive or negative) the efficacy assessment (whether they think they will be able to gather the information for which they are searching and then cope with it)

Theory of Motivated Information Management (p. 84) Seeker Outcome Expectancies Uncertainty Discrepancy Anxiety Information Management Strategy Provider Efficacy Assessments Outcome Expectancies Information Management Efficacy Assessments

Strategies for Reducing Uncertainty Berger (originally for strangers) Passive: unobtrusive observation Active: using third parties or manipulating the environment Interactive: direct communication questions, self-disclosure, nonverbal signals Hitch Bar Scene Give examples of how these could be used in established relationships. As uncertainty decreases, attraction (liking) usually increases. When would attraction or liking not increase?

More Strategies Baxter & Wilmot Secret Tests Asking third party tests Directness tests (22%) Triangle tests (34%) Fidelity tests Jealousy tests Separation tests (friend with romantic potential) Endurance tests (33%) (reward/cost limits) Public presentation tests (reaction to relationship label) Indirect suggestion tests (friend with romantic potential) Most respondents report using the indirect strategies (esp. early in rel. & rels. with rom. potential); what about friends with benefits?

Does More Information Always Reduce Uncertainty? Behaviors that increase uncertainty Competing relationships Unexplained loss of contact or closeness Sexual behavior Deception Change in Personality/Values Betraying Confidence Could these events actually reduce uncertainty?

Expectancy Violations Theory (Began with Burgoon’s work on violations of personal space) Over time, people build expectations for how people (in general and well known others) should behave Predictive Expectancies: what people expect in a given situation based on what normally occurs with that person and/or in that relationship Prescriptive expectancies: what people expect based on general norms and rules of appropriateness

Expectancies are influenced by three factors Communicator Characteristics Relationship Characteristics Context (situation and culture) Responses to violations are influenced by two factors Positive or negative interpretation: unexpected behavior is perceived to be better or worse than the expected behavior Rewardingness of violator: overall value that a person has in terms of attributes such as attractiveness or status. Who should follow social norms? (non-rewarding communicators)

Types of Expectancy Violations in Close Relationships Criticism or accusation Relationship escalation Relationship de-escalation Uncharacteristic relational behav. Uncharacteristic social behavior Transgressions Acts of devotion Acts of disregard Gestures of inclusion Give examples of how any of these could increase uncertainty and be evaluated as positive or negative. Give examples of how any of these could increase uncertainty and be evaluated as positive or negative.

Possible artifact themes Reflect on one of your previous or current relationships (friend or romantic). List the events or behaviors that increased your uncertainty. Which were positive and which were negative? How did you reduce your uncertainty (strategy?) Or how did the event itself make you more certain about the person’s goals, intentions, personality traits, values, etc. Did you stay in the relationship? Leave the relationship? Redefine it?