CAPS #4 Lindy Rauscher

Anxiety/Uncertainty Management Model

            Cultural adaptation can be modeled in the social science approach through the anxiety/uncertainty management theory (AUM) (Martin and Nakayama, 2006).  This model emphasizes uncertainty reduction via knowledge gathering.  The gathering of knowledge allows the anxious or uncertain communicator to better predict and explain the communication styles and behaviors they encounter.  Being able to predict behaviors and explain diverse behaviors allows for uninhibited communication.  AUM theory can be applied to all instances of cultural adaptation.

            William Gudykunst developed the AUM theory as a specific alternative to uncertainty reduction (Gudykunst, p.283).  Gudykunst wants to develop a framework for understanding how managing anxiety and uncertainty in communication leads to effective communication in intercultural contexts.  Schlenker and Leary suggest that anxiety only exists in communication because the person has “concerns about the impressions others are forming of them” (Schlenker and Leary, 1985).  This directly applies to intercultural communication.  A person trying to adapt to a host culture is very concerned about the impressions they are making, which are largely guided by communication events.  If that anxiety can be managed, communication will be more rewarding and the impressions being formed will tend to be more positive.  Once anxiety and uncertainty are managed in new interactions, they can then be reduced after the communication and relationship foundation is established.

            Schlenker and Leary explain that people experiencing anxiety in social communication events will be less self-assertive, try to avoid causing an argument, limit their self-disclosures, and limit their contributions to the communication event (Schlenker and Leary, 1985).  Knowing this can help host culture communicators to recognize the anxiety and uncertainty of the migrant communicator.  This will ensure that the host communicator forms appropriate impressions of the migrant communicator.  In a way, this is a form of AUM because the host communicator will have some anxiety and uncertainty about communicating with a migrant, though it is probably less than that experienced by the migrant communicator.  Managing anxiety and uncertainty in communication from both sides will result in the most effective intercultural communication.

References

Martin, Judith N. and Nakayama, Thomas K. (2010). Intercultural Communication in Contexts.  5^th Edition. McGraw-Hill.

Gudykunst, William B. (2005). Theorizing About Intercultural Communication. Ch. 13 “An Anxiety/Uncertainty Management (AUM) Theory of Effective Communication”. Sage Publications, Inc.

Schlenker, Barry R. and Leary, Mark R. Journal of Language and Social Psychology. September 1985. Volume 4. Pages 171-192.