Anxiety/Uncertainty Management theory

In 2003, I went down to Orlando FL and worked as an intern for Walt Disney World for 6months. During that time, I met people from all over the world, and formed a lot of friendships. One friendship turned into a relationship, and can be applied to a few of the axioms discussed in this theory.

Every relationship starts with attraction. Usually initial attraction is formed from perceived similarities we form about someone. (Ex. I like American Eagle, and he’s wearing American Eagle). Axiom 17 supports that if there is an increase in perceived similarities between ourselves and a stranger, our anxiety will decrease and we will be more willing to have a conversation.

Axiom 27 states an increase in attraction to strangers will decrease our anxiety and increase confidence in predicting their behavior. I couldn’t agree more with this statement, if you feel confident in how you feel for someone, you’ll feel confident to predict their reaction to those feelings. This was the case with David and I, since we were so attracted to each other, we weren’t as anxious or uncertain.

Obviously the more you get to know someone, the more you find out about their interests and what you have in common. David and I love Italian food, like the same music and developed a lot of mutual friends. Since we had so many similarities, we became even more interested in each other. Axiom 20 clearly says an increase in perceived similarity will decrease anxiety and increase the ability to predict behavior, reducing uncertainty. We had no problems finding things to do, figuring out who to hang out with, or what to talk about.

Of course all good things have to come to an end. I was moving back to Ohio and David was still in Orlando for 2 more months before heading off to New York. When we left Orlando, so did all of our similarities. We had no mutual friends to hang out with, and no common places to meet. Yet when we did have that relationship, the anxiety/uncertainty management theory proves valid in my experience.