Behavioral Uncertainty Reduction Theory: A Case Study

Social learning theory (SLT), cognitive approach, behaviorist approach, humanistic approach, psychodynamic approach and biological approach.

Firstly, Uncertainty reduction theory was written by Charles Berger, his theory focus on the way human predict and interact to others. His theory focused on two types of uncertainty and eight Atoms for uncertainty. According to Charles Uncertainty reduction theory is an increased knowledge of what kind of person another is, which provides an improved forecast of how a future interaction will turn out. In another word mean that communication is the key to form health relationship. As human we communicate to generally understand one another and to also reduction our uncertainty. I can apply uncertainty reduction theory to my love life, my first day at a new school, making new friends and meeting new people, new location, and I can also apply uncertainty reduction theory to my first job interview, and many other situation to my life.

Brene Brown, a researcher in social interactions, takes an unexpected perspective in her ted talk called “The Power of Vulnerability”. She starts out her speech by telling a joke and explaining her education and experience in social work. A quote her professor put on the board led her to research the connection among people. However, this led to many other things such as shame, fear, and the most prominent factor, vulnerability. She realized that for connection to occur we must be seen completely for who we are. This led to 6 years of research, including hundreds of stories and thousands of pieces of data. Brown wrote a book about her findings but she felt that something was still missing. It turned out the missing component was worthiness. To delve deeper into worthiness, she did a study on people who think they are worthy and people who don’t. People who thought they were worthy had these four things in common, courage, compassion, connection, and vulnerability. Brown realized at this point that she needed to understand vulnerability thoroughly by facing it herself. A therapist helped brown face vulnerability head on for a year straight, and in the end, she potentially won her life back. Brown stated “…vulnerability is the core of shame, of fear and of worthiness, but it is also the birthplace of joy, of creativity, of belonging, of love…” After facing her fear, she knew that vulnerability was the core of not only fear, but also happiness. Brown goes on to say that we

The two theories discussed here will be the Psychodynamic Theory and the Social Learning Theory. Psychodynamic theories include the wisdom of Freud and Jung. Freud discusses, defense mechanisms, understanding the ego as it relates to rational thinking and the superego in regard to mortality. Whereas the Social Learning Theory includes those works from Bandura, Watson, and Piaget among others. This theory will focus on imitation, observation and modeling another’s behavior to achieve a certain desired outcome. Although their conceptual theories differ, they both reflect, shape, and interpret the very essence of the human psyche and how we have evolved and developed over the years.

Knapp, M. L., Vangelisti, A. L. (2005). Interpersonal Communication and HumanRelationships. (5th ed.) Boston: Pearson.

Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory describes the process through which people acquire new info, forms of behavior, or attitudes from others firsthand or vicariously. The likelihood of a behavior presenting itself will rely on the amount of reinforcement it receives and the value that the individual associates to it. While some behavior may be rewarded, others may produce unfavorable responses. An individual will learn from the consequences of these actions and when a similar situation arises, they will alter their behavior according to what was most successful in the past.

A person may be apprehensive in one situation but not in another. Additionally, as communication does not confine itself to just talk, a person may, for example, be apprehensive about communicating by engaging in talk but feel quite comfortable about writing. McCroskey & Richmond (1987) identify four types of communication apprehension: traitlike, context based, receiver based, and situational. Traitlike CA concerns mainly oral communication and refers to a relatively stable and enduring predisposition of an individual towards experiencing fear and/or anxiety across a wide range of communication contexts. Context based

Kim Bartholomew took Bowlby’s theory a step further and proposed four styles of adult attachment based on working models of self and others (Lyddon & Sherry, 2001). These styles were secure, preoccupied, dismissing and fearful. Secure adults feel self worth and expect other people to be trustworthy. Preoccupied adults feel unworthy but feel better about other people. Dismissing adults feel they are worthy but have a negative view of others. And fearfully attached adults tend to feel unworthy and untrusting of others (Lyddon & Sherry, 2001). All of the styles noted except for secure would also fall under the broader category of insecure.

Expectancy refers to what an individual expects or predicts what may happen in an interaction (Dickter & Gyurovski, 2012; Miller-Ott & Kelly, 2015; Sidelinger & Bolen, 2015). Researchers note that predictive expectancies are what individuals expect in a certain situation based on what generally happens in a specific context, while prescriptive expectancies are what individuals expect based on the social norms of what is appropriate (Sidelinger & Bolen, 2015; Walther-Martin, 2015). Furthermore, arousal may take place when a person’s expectations are violated (Dickter & Gyurovski, 2012; Johnson, 2012; West & Turner, 2014). Arousal is shown through an increase in interest or attention when deviations from expectations occur (West & Turner, 2014). Threat threshold is the ‘distance at which an interactant experiences physical and psychological discomfort by the presence of another’ (West & Turner, 2014, p.

Uncertainty reduction theory is “the point of view that uncertainty motivates communication and that certainty reduces the motivation to communicate” (Wood, definition). This theory was first developed by Charles Berger. He believed that when people are to meet for the first time they have a high level of uncertainty and the only way for them to reduce it is to communicate with one another. “They don’t know what each other likes, thinks and believes; how each other responds to certain reactions, and they’re unsure what each other expects or wants from interacting” (Wood,184). There are three prior conditions that are meant to help individuals want to reduce uncertainty.

When it comes to talking about theories of communication, it is easy to overlook the impact they have on our day-to-day lives. Often times when people think of theories they think of long boring explanations that have little meaning or pertinence to their lives. This, however, is not always the case. It may surprise some to find out that the interactions they have whether at work, with their loved ones, or even with a stranger all relate back to theories that explain why they do the things they do. This not only includes the face-to-face interaction we have in real life, but also through the relationships we see portrayed in television shows and movies. An example of this is how the uncertainty reduction theory plays into the relationship development between Belle and the Beast in the newest movie version of Beauty and the Beast.

This research is reinforced by Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1977; as cited in Redmond, 2010) which states that self-efficacy or a person’s belief in one’s ability to succeed in a particular situation plays an essential role in how goals, tasks, and challenges are approached. It continues to evolve as people acquire new skills, experiences, and understanding. It can have an impact on everything from psychological states to behavior to motivation. Bandura believed that the key to successful therapy is self-efficacy. Bandura's theory proposed that learning can also occur by simply observing the actions of others (Ross, 2007). It was stated that people can learn new information and behaviors by watching other people which is known as observational learning. Underneath the social cognitive theory is the social learning theory. There are three core concepts at the heart of social learning theory. In this study, the researchers will only use the two concepts which

Uncertainty reduction theory could be applied to long-term relationships as well as initial encounter (Berger, 1979). Berger presented that uncertainty may happen on two different levels: behavioral and cognitive. He stated that reducing uncertainty in behavior increases the predicting ability of how a person will act when he/she is facing a situation. In the mean time, cognitive uncertainty affects the ability to explain the main rational reasons for that certain action.

In regards to social cognitive theory, one is looking at the fact that people learn by observing behavioral

Albert Bandura is considered the developer of social learning theory, which is also known as social cognitive theory (Corey, 2013; Feist et al., 2013; Thoma et al., 2015). Badura’s theory, while based upon the principles of behaviorism, departs from the traditional behavioral model and leaves room for the exploration of unobservable mental states and their influence on behavior (Corey, 2013; Thoma et al., 2015). Social Cognitive theory bases its theory of learning on two types of learning processes: observational learning and enactive learning (Feist et al., 2013). In contrast to Skinner’s belief that reinforcement is required for learning, Bandura believes that learning is possible simply by observing the behavior of others; while reinforcement facilitates learning, it is not a necessary requirement (Feist et al., 2013). Enactive learning is learning through direct experience, and is similar to the concept of operant conditioning; people determine appropriate behaviors by evaluating their behavior and the potential consequences thereof (Feist et al., 2013). Where behavioral theory adopts the ABC approach to behavior, social cognitive theory uses a BPE approach known as Triadic Reciprocal Causation. In TRC, BPE stands for behavior, person variables, and environment (Feist et al., 2013). Within the TRC, the term person encompasses many variables including memory, judging, anticipation, gender, social position, physical attributes, and planning; the belief is that