Wildrick 1
Emily D. Wildrick
Professor Amanda Parke
SPC 3210
16 November 2017
Final Research Paper
We as people live in a world that derives from human interaction. Communication
between people occurs, both verbally and nonverbally, and is used to broaden our
understanding of one another. Communication theories have been created to help people
of society comprehend communication experiences that take place on a daily basis.
Throughout this semester, as a class, we have examined numerous communication
theories. After analyzing each theory, I have chosen to examine uncertainty reduction as
strong and cognitive dissonance as weak. To further analyze these theories I will give a
brief concrete overview of each of them, apply the theory I consider strong to my life,
and critique the theory I consider weak.
The strong theory, uncertainty reduction, describes how individuals often feel
uncertain about people they do not know until they are encouraged to communicate.
According to Charles Berger, “Uncertainty reduction is increased knowledge of what
kind of person another is, which provides an improved forecast of how a future
interaction will turn out” (Griffin 110). In order to clearly illustrate the eight truths about
initial uncertainty Berger created an axiom. This axiom includes: verbal communication,
nonverbal warmth, information seeking, self-disclosure, reciprocity, similarity, liking,
and shared networks. The purpose of this is to explain the connection between the
concept of uncertainty and the important variables of relational development.
Wildrick 2
An example of this theory is represented clearly in my own life during my first
year attending university. Freshman year of college one of my courses required the class
to complete a group project. It was my first day of class on campus and I was in a room
full of students I was unacquainted with. Quickly, my professor put us into groups of
three, so we could meet the individuals we would be working with throughout the
semester. At first it felt quite awkward because we had never met, yet were forced to do a
project worth a significant amount of points together. Each of us were probably thinking
the same thing: “Will my partners take this project serious? Will we all get along? Is
everyone going to contribute work equally?” Once we all got past our thoughts about
each other and got to conversing I learned that we would all work great together. As the
book said, “A second kind of uncertainty focuses on cognitive questions aimed at
