Anxiety/uncertainty Management - Anxiety, Uncertainty, Mindfulness, and Effective Communication

Anxiety, Uncertainty, Mindfulness, and Effective Communication

Langer (1989) states that mindfulness involves creating new categories, an openness to new information, and being aware of strangers' perspectives. Mindfulness is essential for effective communication and one needs to develop mindful ways of learning about strangers. Langer (1997) concludes that this should involve: openness to "novelty", awareness of distinctions, being sensitive to different contexts, an awareness of multiple perspectives, and an orientation to the present. For example, strangers are usually more mindful and able to "negotiate potentially problematic social interactions more effectively" than ingroup members (Devine et al. 1996). Therefore, ingroup members should be mindful of the process of communicating as opposed to being mindful of the outcome of the interaction (Gudykunst, 2005, p.&nbsp305).

The following five axioms are essential for effective communication because they focus on the basic causes and processes of effective communication whereas the previous 34 axioms focused on managing our anxiety and uncertainty when communicating with strangers

Axiom 35: An increase in our ability to describe strangers' behavior will produce an increase in our ability to predict their behavior accurately. Boundary Conditions: This axiom holds only when we are mindful of the process of communication, we are not overly vigilant, and our anxiety and uncertainty are between our minimum and maximum thresholds. (Gudykunst, 2005, p. 306)
Axiom 36: An increase in our knowledge of strangers languages and/or dialects will produce a decrease in our anxiety and an increase in our ability to predict their behavior accurately. Boundary Conditions: This axiom holds only when our anxiety and uncertainty are between our minimum and maximum thresholds, and when we are not mindful. (Gudykunst, 2005, p. 306)
Axiom 37: An increase in our mindfulness of the process of our communication with the strangers will produce an increase in our ability to manage our anxiety and an increase in our ability to manage our uncertainty. Boundary Conditions: This axiom holds only when we are not overly vigilant. (Gudykunst, 2005, p. 306)
Axiom 38: An increase in mindfully recognizing and correcting pragmatic errors that occur in our conversations with strangers facilitates negotiating with strangers which will produce an increase in the effectiveness of our communication. Boundary Conditions: This axiom holds only when we are mindful of the process of communication and we are not overly vigilant, and our anxiety and uncertainty are between our minimum and maximum thresholds. (Gudykunst, 2005, p. 306)
Axiom 39: An increase in our ability to manage our anxiety about interacting with strangers and an increase in the accuracy of our predictions and explanations regarding their behavior will produce an increase in the effectiveness of our communication. Boundary Conditions: This axiom holds only when we are mindful of the process of communication and we are not overly vigilant, and our anxiety and uncertainty are between our minimum and maximum thresholds. (Gudykunst, 2005, p. 307)