Anxiety/Uncertainty Management Theory Application
By: Danielle McLaughlin
When I say these words what comes to mind? The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, The Great Lakes Science Center, The Indians, Tower City, the Flats and of course the Browns. If you were fimilar with at least one of these words you would know that these are all aspects of Cleveland Ohio, my hometown. I grew up in a suburb east of Cleveland called Mayfield Hts. In Mayfield Hts. we have four malls that are fifteen minutes away from us, we have four grocery stores within walking distance of our houses, and we have multiple shopping centers which include hundreds of restaurants and stores. Best of all, we have the Flats which consists of two riverbanks filled with bars and nightclubs. As you can tell people who live in Cleveland, Ohio never run out of things to do. Now think about this, moving from this metropolitan area to Athens Ohio...

Well, that is exactly what I did. I decided to attend Ohio University. Ohio University is located in southeastern Ohio, basically in the middle of nowhere. In order to adjust to this new "culture" that I was exposed to I had to use Gudykunst's anxiety/uncertainty Management Theory (although I was not aware of it at the time). When I first moved down to Athens I was filled with anxiety. I had no idea what was going to happen and how I was going to adjust to this new life style. I was unaware of the superficial causes that were now going to affect my life. I was used to a kind of scripted behavior. I had a routine of what I would do at home. If I needed to go to the store I had a car to drive me there and I knew exactly where I was heading. Now I was uncertain of where I was heading.

The first day that I spent on campus I had an unconscious incompetence I was ignorant of life on Ohio University's campus. I misinterpreted other people's behavior and was not even aware of it. An example of my unconscious incompetence occurred just hours after I arrived in Athens, Ohio. After my parents and I unloaded our mini van into my new dorm room we decided to get some lunch. On our walk over to the restaurant we passed many people. Many of these people were attractive young men. More then half of these young men said "hello" to me. In Cleveland people are not very friendly, so I mistakenly took these friendly hello's as flirtatious acts! It took awhile for me to get used to this friendly atmosphere. Not only did I have to adjust to others' behavior I also had to adjust my own behavior. However, as I spent more time on Ohio University's campus I became a more effective communicator. I moved through the step of conscious incomp etence where I realized that people were just naturally more friendly here in this little town. Next, I became mindful in my communication and behavior with others. This moved me to another level of communication competence conscious competence. I now thought about my communication and continually worked at changing what I did to become more effective. There were three factors that encouraged me to develop thismindfulness in my communication.




    FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO MINDFUL COMMUNICATION

  • MOTIVATION FACTORS- I knew that I was going to spend four years at Ohio University and I wanted to be included in the college community. I no longer wanted to be a stranger!
  • KNOWLEDGE FACTORS- I sought out explanations about the different aspects of college life from my RA, professors, and friends.
  • SKILL FACTORS- By talking to my fellow students at Ohio University I developed the skills that were necessary to become an effective communicator at Ohio University.



After spending three years at Ohio University I now feel that I have reached the level of unconscious competence. I have developed my communication skills to the point that I no longer have to think about how I speak or listen. I now know what "TRIPS" is, I understand when someone tells me to meet them on the college green, and I know where the "Cheese" is located. There are however, a few aspects that I do not think that I will ever adjust to; the fact that the closest mall is almost an hour and a half away, there are no clubs to go to and your fake ID does not work as well here as it did in Cleveland.


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For a research report on Anxiety/Uncertainty Management Theory Chasity click here

For a critique on Anixiety/Uncertainty Mangement Theory Jeff click here

For more information on Gudykunst's Theories click here

For more information on Ohio University click here

For more information on Cleveland click here

For information on Social Penetration Theory which also deals with new relationships click here


Griffen, Em. A Fist Look At Communication Theory. 3rd ed. New York: Mc Graw-Hill, 1997.