The Uncertainty Reduction Theory developed by Charles Berger in 1975 proposes that people seek to reduce uncertainty about a situation by gathering information about others before communicating. Berger identified eight variables related to relationship development like verbal communication, nonverbal warmth, and liking, and how they are influenced by uncertainty. Specifically, he suggested that higher uncertainty is linked to less intimacy, more information seeking and reciprocity, while lower uncertainty increases intimacy, decreases information seeking and reciprocity. Berger also identified strategies people use to reduce uncertainty like passive observation, asking others, direct interaction, and online research.

1. The Uncertainty Reduction Theory was developed by Charles Berger in 1975. The
theory asserts that before people actually communicate with each other they try to
reduce their uncertainty about the situation by gathering information about the
other party. This theory was initially created to help explain how we utilize
communication to help reduce the anxiety we may have caused by uncertainty of
certain situations. Throughout pages 110- 111 one can find the eight axioms that
Berger uses to “explain the connection between his central concept of uncertainty
and eight key variables of relationship development: verbal communication,
nonverbal warmth, information seeking, self disclosure, reciprocity, similarity,
liking, and shared networks.” The seven axioms are the following:
1) Verbal communication- the further uncertainty is reduced the more verbal
communication increases
2) Nonverbal warmth- the decreases in uncertainty will increase nonverbal
expressions
3) Information seeking- the more that a person feel uncertain the more
compelled they feel to seek out information about the situation
4) Self-disclosure- the higher the uncertainty the less intimate the conversation
is, the lower the uncertainty the more intimate the conversation will be
5) Reciprocity- the higher the uncertainty the higher the reciprocity, the lower
the uncertainty the lower the reciprocity
6) Similarity- if there are similarities during the initial interaction then the
uncertainty levels should decrease
7) Liking: the higher the uncertainty level the liking decreases, the lower the
uncertainty level the liking increase
8) Shared networks- if the people have shared communication networks then
the uncertainty will decrease.
Page 113 talks about how Berger believes that most social interaction is goal driven.
People say what they say because they have a reason. Berger developed some
strategies that people utilize to overcome uncertainty:
1) Passive Strategy-impression formation by observing a person interacting
with others
2) Active strategy- impression formation by asking a third party about a person
3) Interactive strategy- impression formation through face to face discussion
4) Extractive strategy- impression formation by searching in internet for
information about a person
5) Hedging- use of strategic ambiguity and humor to provide a way for both
parties to save face when a message fails to achieve its goals
6) Hierarchy hypothesis- prediction that when people are thwarted in their
attempts to achieve goals their first tendency is to alter lower level elements
of their message
A Perfect example I can think of after learning all of this information is when your
friends out you on a blind date. Tis has happened to me and I automatically found
myself asking around to mutual friends for information about my date. I looked him
up on face book to check out his page and I felt more comforted by the fact that we

2. had so many mutual friends. When we finally had our date I knew a little bit about
him and even though I did not share the fact that I “facebook stalked him” or asked
around about him I felt a little bit better about our first encounter.