Anxiety/Uncertainty Management Theory explains interpretation in unfamiliar encounters through managing apprehension and uncertainty, with attentive checking of assumptions rather than elimination of ambiguity. Effective communication depends on revisable understanding, not simply confidence, comfort, or knowledge of national customs.
- FamilyModel
- CategoryTheories & Explanatory Models
- DomainAcross Cultures
What these mean
Editorial orientation · Family
Model
In this series, Model names the editorial family primarily used to understand and explain communication: theories, frameworks, effects, traditions, principles and other conceptual resources. It is an umbrella for a route into the field, not a claim that every included object is a predictive model.
Editorial orientation · Category
Theories & Explanatory Models
Explains how or why a communication process works by relating mechanisms, conditions or variables. Its value is an account that can guide inquiry into what produces an outcome, rather than a name for the outcome alone.