COMM 305 1st Edition Lecture 7 Outline of Last Lecture I Applying Relational Dialectics to Disclosure II Uncertainty Reduction Theory URT III Problems with URT IV Uncertainty Management Theory Outline of Current Lecture I Uncertainty management Theory cont II Expectancy Violation Theory Current Lecture Uncertainty Management Theory cont o Sources of uncertainty First source of uncertainty comes from the need to know information Life is uncertain we can never be wholly certain Information can cause uncertainty when we have too much information or too little It is more often the case that you have too much information and that is the source of uncertainty Information can cause uncertainty when we have conflicting information Self other relationship uncertainty Can happen between conversations with others o Appraisals and emotion Appraisals Relevance o We may ask is this uncertainty relevant to my goals Do I care Congruency o We ask is the uncertainty congruent matching or incongruent with my goals URT says it should be incongruent Coping skills o What recourses do I have to deal with the uncertainty Is it something I can cope with o EX We re trying to see if it ll snow this weekend If I plan to stay in it doesn t matter The uncertainty of whether it s going to snow doesn t matter if you stay in anyways But if you re These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute o o planning on having a picnic the weather and chance of snow is relevant and you ll want to know what you can do about it Typically happens internally How we appraise uncertainty determines how we will manage that uncertainty o Emotion The theory says uncertainty can evokes negative emotion Uncertainty can also be exciting We can also be indifferent to uncertainty especially if we decide the uncertainty isn t relevant to our goals Can be a mix of emotions too Danger versus opportunity appraisals and communicative uncertainty management Danger Appraisals involve uncertainty that are congruent to our goals appraisals Relevant to our goals Communicative Uncertainty Reduction Tend to have more positive emotions associated with them Ex Dorothy s uncertainty about her illness Not knowing about her illness was incongruent with her goals She wanted to know she found out and she was happy Opportunity Appraisals involve uncertainty that are incongruent to our goals appraisals Relevant to our goals Typically wanting to avoiding information Communicative maintenance or increasing of uncertainty Tend to have more positive emotions associated with them Ex Rose s uncertainty about her illness Not knowing about her illness is congruent with her goals She doesn t want to know if she has HIV so she avoids the information which is congruent with her goals Theories of Discourse and Interaction Question How do we know what things mean Both theories were developed to explain nonverbal communication First to explain how we know what nonverbal communication is As of today the theories have been broadened to include verbal communication Expectancy Violation Theory o Nonverbal behavior Verbal refers to linguistics the words we say then nonverbal is everything else Types of nonverbals Paralanguage the nonverbal cues that accompany speech o Involves volume or loudness speed or rate of speech pitch or tone intonation 9 the rising and falling of the tone Body motion gestures movements of the body facial expressions eye behavior blinking gazing and posture o Appearance can involve those aspects of a person s appearance that they have no control over skin color gender physique and those we can clothes hair Use of Space proxemics perception and use of space o Think of interpersonal space how close a person is when talking to you But how close is too close is dependent on your culture the intimacy with others And again some situations are ok to have close proximity such as in a line or on an elevator o Ex bathroom urinals guys Ideas to keep in mind Nonverbal behaviors cannot be understood in isolation When we try to read people like a book very well Instead we see clusters of nonverbals Not all nonverbals are communication ex sitting in a chair and a man comes and sticks his fingers in your mouth It seems weird but not if it s a dentist A dentist isn t trying to communicate anything to you by putting his fingers in your mouth All nonverbals are context dependent Ex universal greeting for saying hello is the eyebrow flash it s like the sup head nod But some cultures that can be sexual Expectancies An expectation or guess about commutation behavior Particular nonverbals How we think nonverbals will be used in an encounter Involve preconceived notions about who the communicators are what the relationship it and what the context is Come from a variety of sources culture past experiences They involve a range EX if your looking at someone in the eye we know that appropriate eye gaze becomes uncomfortable at a certain range and the range is around 30 seconds not exactly 30 seconds