Guerrero, Close Encounters, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
Lecture Notes
Chapter 4: Making Sense of Our World: Managing Uncertainty and
Expectancy Violations
Chapter Outline
I. What is Uncertainty?
• Lack of information increases uncertainty: When we receive information that reduces
uncertainty, we are more confident that we understand ourselves, other people, our
relationships, and the world around us.
• Uncertainty has been defined as the inability to predict or explain someone’s attitudes
and/or behaviors.
• Being confident and secure: Low uncertainty occurs when people feel confident in
their ability to predict and explain someone’s behavior, often because they believe
they know someone well.
• Self-uncertainty: Occurs when people question their own feelings about how
involved they want to be in with another person.
• Overlooked role of societal factors:
o Most noteworthy is a framework proposed to better understand the ways in which
what they label “sociopolitical uncertainty” affect individuals in marginalized
relationships.
• Individuals in the LGBTQ+ community have layers of additional uncertainty about
issues that are far outside of their close relationships but that have very real impacts on
them.
• Uncertainty that comes with societal disapproval and racist attitudes and action
undoubtedly plays a role in the negative impacts of discrimination on individuals and
their close relationships.
o Mostly white American college students in their sample reported acceptance of
mixed-race couples.
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• Uncertainties about communication and sex were the two most consistently tied to
relationship qualities, often been shown to be the cornerstone of strong romantic
relationships.
A. The Motivation to Reduce Uncertainty
1. One of the primary principles underlying uncertainty reduction theory was
that people generally dislike uncertainty and are therefore motivated to
reduce it.
2. Not only do we want to get to know strangers but we have to get to know
them better so that we can reduce uncertainty and create order in our world.
3. Satisfaction in relationships was negatively associated with self, partner, and
relationship uncertainty, with those uncertainties also tied to negative
relationship thoughts and behaviors.
4. When reducing uncertainty might mean eliminating hope for recovery,
uncertainty is cherished because it keeps hope alive.
6. Choosing not to reduce uncertainty:
a. Despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of college students are at high
risk of contracting a sexually transmitted infection, only a very small
percentage ever get tested for such infections.
7. A theory called dialectics theory also supports the idea that uncertainty is
sometimes undesirable, but other times desirable.
8. Cross-sex friendships and uncertainty: Some cross-sex friendships are full of
ambiguity regarding issues such as whether romantic potential exists and
“sensitive” topics—especially about the relationship—are typically avoided.
9. Some cultures are accepting of ambiguity whereas other cultures, called
uncertainty-avoidant cultures, steer clear of uncertainty at all cost.
a. Countries with uncertainty-avoidant cultures often limit individual rights,
their people tend to follow tradition, and are uncomfortable with
uncertainty.
10. It would be a mistake to assume that one approach to uncertainty avoidance is
inherently superior to another, or that cultural differences on uncertainty
avoidance are tied to better political or economic systems.
Guerrero, Close Encounters, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
B. The Relationship between Communication and Uncertainty
1. Communicating to reduce uncertainty: Another central idea underlying
uncertainty reduction theory is that people communicate to get information
and reduce uncertainty, especially during initial encounters with others.
2. Subscribers to online dating sites reported that they were more likely to have
engaged in personal disclosure with a prospective dating partner if they had
also tried to reduce uncertainty about that person.
3. Especially in established relationships, particular behaviors can increase,
rather than decrease, uncertainty, even in developed relationships.
7. Deception: Involved discovering that friends or dating partners had lied,
fabricated information, or been misleading.
8. Change in personality or value: Occurred when people realized that their
friends or dating partners were different from what they used to be.
C. General Strategies for Reducing Uncertainty
1. Passive Strategies
a. Unobtrusive observation of individuals:
i. Behaviors such as looking at someone sitting alone to see if a friend
or dates comes along, observing how a person interacts with others,
or paying attention to what a person wears.
b. Effective and informative:
i. Passive observations are likely to be effective and informative when
they are conducted in an informal setting, rather than in a formal
setting.
ii. Most people’s communication is constrained in formal settings
because rules in these situations are fairly strict, so their behavior is
not particularly informative.
Guerrero, Close Encounters, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
c. When passive observation strategies become compulsive, stalking or
relational intrusion is the result.
2. Active Strategies
a. Manipulating the social environment: The information seeker may not be
part of the manipulated situation, although he or she sets up the situation
for observing how someone reacts.
b. Asking third parties about someone: We often ask friends if they have
heard anything about a particular person of interest or ask for help
interpreting something that person did.
3. Interactive Strategies
a. Common interactive strategies include asking questions, encouraging
disclosure, and relaxing the target. We are especially likely to ask such
questions the first time we meet someone.
b. Questions asked initially are general: We hesitate to ask questions about
personal issues until we have a close relationship with the person and
even then may avoid asking direct questions.
4. Secret Tests
a. In secret tests, except for the directness test, strategies are “secret”
because the partner might not realize you are using them to try and get
specific types of information to reduce your uncertainty.
b. Asking-third-party tests: This strategy relies on feedback from social
network members, virtually identical to one of the active strategies.
d. Triangle tests: This strategy is intended to test the partner’s commitment
to the relationship by creating three-person triangles.
i. Fidelity checks involve tests such as seeing if the partner responds to
a fictitious “secret admirer” note.
ii. Jealousy tests involve checks such as flirting with someone else to
see how the partner responds.
e. Separation tests: This strategy relies on creating physical distance
between relational partners.
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SAGE Publishing, 2021
i. Long period of physical separation involves seeing such as if your
relationship can survive a summer of not seeing each other.
ii. Ceasing contact for an extended period of time involves to see how
long it takes for your partner to call.
f. Endurance tests: This strategy increases the costs or reduces the rewards
for the other person in the relationship.
i. Testing limits involve seeing how much a partner will endure.
ii. Self-putdowns involve criticizing oneself to see whether the partner
responds by offering positive feedback.
g. Public presentation tests:
i. This strategy involves monitoring a partner’s reaction to the use of
certain relational labels or actions, most commonly used in early
relationship stages.
ii. Public presentation tests that might occur later in the relationship
include asking someone to wear a ring or sports or spend the
holidays with your family.
h. Indirect suggestion tests: This strategy uses hints or jokes to cover up
the serious nature of an inquiry. The partner’s response then provides
insight into her or his feelings about the issue.
i. People may be most likely to use indirect secret tests in the early stages
of relationships, when using direct information-seeking strategies may be
riskier than they are later in the relationship.
j. Sometimes people prefer uncertainty to certainty, and sometimes other
forces, besides uncertainty, influence whether or not people feel a need to
seek information through communication.
D. Predicted Outcome Value Theory
1. No need to reduce uncertainty: Whether or not people seek more information
depends on whether outcome values are positive or negative.
2. Grounded in two main ideas:
a. People are motivated to maximize rewards and minimize costs.
b. People’s judgments about likely future outcomes guide their behavior.
3. High and low outcome values:
a. People are judged as having a high outcome value when they are
perceived to be more rewarding than other potential partners.
b. When people have a low outcome value, they are perceived to be less
rewarding than other potential partners.
4. Initially reducing uncertainty:
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a. We initially reduce uncertainty as a way of finding out how we feel about
a person or an interaction.
b. After that, the positive or negative outcome value becomes the driving
force behind seeking further information.
5. When uncertainty is reduced by learning positive information about someone,
attraction increases; when uncertainty is reduced by learning negative
information about someone, attraction decreases.
6. Applied to ongoing relationships: When unexpected events occur, people
adjust their predicted outcome values, which then lead to corresponding
changes in liking, attraction, amount of communication, and information
seeking.
a. People report more uncertainty in response to unexpected negative events
compared to unexpected positive events.
E. The Theory of Motivated Information Management
1. Individuals are only motivated to manage their uncertainty levels when they
perceive a discrepancy between the level of uncertainty they have about an
important issue and the level of uncertainty they want.
2. People who feel a discrepancy between actual and desired uncertainty use an
“evaluation phase” to decide whether to reduce the discrepancy.
a. Outcome expectancy refers to whether the outcome of the information
search is expected to be positive or negative.
b. Efficacy assessment focuses on whether people feel able to gather the
information for which they are searching and cope with it.
3. Provider goes through a similar process of information management in trying
to decide what information to give and how to give it.
4. Studies have successfully tested TMIM.
a. First, some people (albeit a minority) wanted more uncertainty, not less,
or were satisfied with elevated uncertainty levels.
b. Second, those who wanted to reduce uncertainty generally did so only
F. Relational Turbulence Theory
1. Transition from causal dating to commitment is a “turbulent” period in
relationship development that is often fraught with uncertainty, a central idea
in the model of relational turbulence.
Guerrero, Close Encounters, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
2. Turbulence during this transition period comes from partners’ efforts to
renegotiate their level of interdependence and is a function of two primary
factors.
a. Uncertainty associated with the question of whether or not to increase
commitment.
b. Irritations from partners who block the person’s other goals.
3. Later, this model was renamed as relational turbulence theory and extended
to include other situations that produce turbulence in relationships.
4. Uncertainty and interference perceptions:
a. People’s relationships were most negatively affected to the extent that the
hurtful words or actions produced uncertainty and were perceived to
interfere with their goals.
II. Expectancy Violations
A. Expectancy Violations Theory
1. Expectancy violation occurs whenever a person’s behavior is different from
what is expected, a theory that focused on how people react to violations of
personal space and was later extended to encompass all types of behavioral
violations.
2. By observing and interacting with others, people reduce uncertainty and form
expectancies about how people behave under various circumstances.
3. Predictive expectancies: Tell people what to expect in a given situation
based on what normally occurs in that particular context and/or relationship
and are based on the norms or routines that occur within a context and/or
relationship.
4. Prescriptive expectancies: Tell people what to expect based on general rules
of appropriateness.
5. Communicator characteristics: refer to individual differences, including age,
sex, ethnic background, and personality traits.
7. Context: includes both the social situation and cultural influences.
a. Different behavioral expectations exist depending on the situation.
b. Expectations differ based on culture.
Guerrero, Close Encounters, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
8. According to expectancy violations theory, your response will be contingent
on at least two factors:
a. Positive or negative interpretation of the behavior
b. Reward value of the partner
9. The Positive or Negative Interpretation of the Behavior
a. When unexpected events occur, people often experience heightened
arousal and uncertainty, leading them to search for an explanation.
b. Unexpected versus expected behaviors:
i. When the unexpected behavior is perceived to be better than the
expected behavior, a positive violation has occurred.
ii. By contrast, when the unexpected behavior is perceived to be worse
than the expected behavior, a negative violation has occurred.
c. Positive or negative relationship consequences:
10. The Reward Value of the Partner
a. Some behaviors are ambiguous: Unexpected behavior is not inherently
positive or negative. Some behaviors can be positive in some situations
and negative in others, depending on who enacts them.
b. It is not the behavior per se that is positive or negative; instead, it is the
combination of the behavior and the reward value of the partner.
c. Research on expectancy violations theory has shown that nonrewarding
communicators are evaluated the most favorably if they stay within the
norms and avoid violating expectations.
d. Positive violations met with reciprocity: People receiving unexpectedly
positive behavior from rewarding communicators will respond by
engaging in positive behavior themselves.
i. When positive violations occur, people feel positive such as joy,
excitement, and relief.
e. Negative violations by rewarding communicators are sometimes met with
compensation, meaning the receiver will try and fix things.
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f. We expect rewarding people to meet or exceed our expectancies by
displaying positive behavior, and we expect unrewarding people to meet
or fall short of our expectations by displaying negative behavior.
B. Types of Expectancy Violations in Close Relationships
1. Behaviors function as violations: People reported violations differed in the
extent to which they were seen as positive or negative and, just as
importantly, the extent to which they increased or decreased uncertainty.
2. Criticism or accusation: actions that are critical of the person or that accuse
her or him of some type of offense.
3. Relationship escalation: actions that confirm or intensify the commitment of
the person to the relationship, such as saying “I love you” or giving expensive
gifts.
4. Relationship de-escalation: actions that imply a desire to decrease the
intimacy level in the relationship, such as reducing communication and
spending more time apart.
7. Transgressions: actions that are violations of taken-for-granted rules of
relationships, such as having an affair, being disloyal, sharing private
information with other people, and being deceitful.
8. Acts of devotion: actions that imply that the person really views the partner
and/or the relationship as being special, such as going “above and beyond the
call of duty” to help that individual through a difficult time.
9. Acts of disregard: actions that imply that the person considers the partner
and/or the relationship as unimportant, such as showing up late or being
inconsiderate.
11. Shaping perceptions on social media:
a. Positive expectancy violations included things like learning about
similarities with others through their posts or discovering information
they considered positive through their updates or posted pictures.
b. Unfriending someone online is a negative expectancy violation.
Guerrero, Close Encounters, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
C. Expectancy Violations and Uncertainty in Specific Contexts
1. Flirtation and Sexual Activity
a. Social lubrication effect:
i. Women who have been drinking expect the people around them to
be more social, thereby making mildly flirtatious behaviors more
enjoyable and expected.
b. Attractiveness level of the man:
i. Unattractive men were evaluated more negatively than attractive
men regardless of the type of touch.
c. Cross-sex and romantic relationships:
i. Friends were most likely to perceive that their relationship was
damaged when the sexual contact increased uncertainty and was
evaluated negatively.
ii. Resisting sexual attempts was perceived as more normative and less
unexpected and as more relationally important expectation violation
in cross-sex friendships than dating relationships.
d. Friends with benefits varied dramatically on the extent to which they
were either primarily experienced as friendships or primarily as outlets
for uncommitted sexual activity.
2. Expectations and Goals on First Dates
a. Having fun and reducing uncertainty: Goals of partners influence their
expectations and communication on dates and when partners have similar
expectations, goals of both individuals are more likely fulfilled.
b. Goals depend on relationship type:
i. Strangers and acquaintances are more likely than friends to have the
goals of reducing uncertainty about the person and developing a
friendship.
c. Relationship stages and goals:
Guerrero, Close Encounters, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
i. During the beginning stages of a relationship, people often exchange
rather superficial information as part of the getting-acquainted
process.
d. Sex differences in goals and expectations: Men expect and desire more
sexual activity on first dates than do women.
i. College-age men tend to expect heavy kissing, whereas college-age
women tend to expect light kissing.
ii. Men are likely to have higher sexual expectations for dates that are
initiated by women, even though these expectations are not likely to
be met.
3. Hurtful Events
a. Moral, trust, and social violations:
i. Moral violations occur when a person’s behavior deviates from
what is considered right.
iii. Social violations occur when people fail to act in relationally
appropriate ways and instead engage in rude, cold, critical, or
condescending behavior.
b. Trust and social violations worse: People reported that trust and social
violations were worse than moral violations, even though they would feel
less close to a friend who committed any of these violations.
4. Modality Switches
a. Switch from online to offline relationship
i. Modality switching occurs when people who have previously
communicated exclusively online begin to interact face to face.
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b. Relationships grow closer after switch
i. If people had been interacting for a short time online, the shift to
face-to-face interaction decreased uncertainty.
ii. If they had been interacting exclusively online for an extended time,
the move to face-to-face interaction actually increased uncertainty.
c. Idealization effect: People who communicate exclusively online for an
extended period of time tend to idealize one another and have high
expectations about their relationship when they interact in person.