Salt Lake Community College
Jay Williams
COMM 1050-001
July 19, 2012
Youthlinc
Guatemala 2012
Humanitarian Trip
Jessica Beauchamp
Theory Research Paper
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Jessica Beauchamp
Jay Williams
COMM 1050-001
July 19, 2012
Theory Research Paper
Youthlinc Guatemala 2012 Humanitarian Trip
I was chosen out of hundreds of youth to go with a nonprofit called Youthlinc to Rio
Dulce Guatemala. This occurred during June 19th through July 3rd, though it required much time
and preparation beforehand. You may ask yourself why I went to Guatemala. Going on a
humanitarian trip to a third world country has always been on my bucket list of things that I have
wanted to do. After having this wonderful opportunity I realized how closely it fit too many of
the theories discussed in my communications 1050 class. I want to focus mostly on the Berger’s
uncertainty reduction theory relating it to my interactions with the students in Guatemala whom I
helped. I am also going to use axiology metatheoretical/humanistic approach to employ for
analyzing my trip. Before I go into too much detail of my trip and how uncertainty reduction
theory relates to my event I want to give some background of Youthlinc.
Youthlinc “invests in the service ethic of youth in order to foster individuals in our
society who understand local and global needs, and who are deeply committed to work to relieve
those needs through personal service, partnership, and good will” (Youthlinc). Youthlinc’s main
mission is to create lifetime humanitarians.
To give some insight Guatemala is one of the Western Hemisphere's most impoverished
nations, with over 50% of its population living in poverty. We partnered with the people of this
great nation to sustainably improve the living conditions there. Youthlinc partnered with
Ak’Tenamit; an indigenous school owned and operated nonprofit association in the rainforest of
eastern Guatemala. Founded by a Rotarian in 1992, Ak'Tenamit works to improve education,
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health, and business opportunities for Mayan communities and is respected nation-wide for its
contributions to sustainable development in the region. For our humanitarian efforts we went to
Ak’Tenamit and taught lessons to the children and helped with the beautification of the area in
which they live.
Axiology “is the branch of philosophy that deals with values, ethics, aesthetics, and
religion” (Griffin). Ethics investigates the concepts of "right" and "good" in individual and social
conduct. Aesthetics studies the concepts of "beauty" and "harmony." Berger’s Uncertainty
Reduction Theory is “when people meet, their primary concern is to reduce uncertainty about
each other and their relationship. As verbal output, nonverbal warmth, self-disclosure, similarity,
and shared communication networks increase, uncertainty decreases—and vice versa.
Information seeking and reciprocity are positively correlated with uncertainty” (Grifiin A-1).
Uncertainty reduction theory focuses more on the social conduct of things and in order to have
no uncertainty we have to look at the axiological view of what is right and good for us. By
investigating what is right and good for us with our interactions with others we become less
uncertain and more comfortable.
“Through a series of initial crises, strangers undergo both anxiety and uncertainty—they
don’t feel secure and they aren’t sure how to behave. He (Berger) noted that strangers and ingroup members experience some degree of anxiety and uncertainty in any new interpersonal
situation, but when the encounter takes place between people of different cultures, strangers are
hyperaware of cultural differences. They then tend to overestimate the effect of cultural identity
on the behavior of people in an alien society, while blurring individual’s distinctions” (Griffin
132). I must admit that this happened to me going to Guatemala I thought that their culture
would make them really different from me, but really they are all just student anxious to learn.
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Everyone begins out as strangers according to Charles Berger. That is exactly how I felt;
I have never been out of the country before. I was really scared because I didn’t know what to
expect going to a third world country and not being able to speak Spanish. On my half there was
a lot of uncertainty. I didn’t know everyone that was on my Youthlinc team and we were
expected to work together I also had no idea what the students at Ak’Tenamit would be like. I
needed to start from the beginning on working with developing relationships with everyone that I
came in contact with. That is why I thought the uncertainty reduction theory would be great for
relating to this event. According to Berger it is “natural to have doubts about our ability to
predict the outcome of initial encounters.”
Berger gives three main ways that we can reduce uncertainty by prior conditions: (1)
“anticipation of future interactions”. Since I knew that after my trip I probably wouldn’t see
many of the people again I felt more comfortable. I felt more comfortable because I knew if I
made a mistake I wouldn’t have to worry about anyone making fun of me because I wouldn’t see
them again. (2) “Incentive value.” I had the incentive to help them and I knew that they would be
appreciative of my willingness to help. (3) “Deviance”. Since we were going to go to a school
and the school has rules that the students need to follow, I figured this would allow for little
deviance from the students. By examining these prior conditions it helped reduce my uncertainty
at the beginning of my trip, though language was still a big barrier that needed to be overcome.
The main purpose of uncertainty is to “make sense” of our interpersonal world. “The
systematic explanation of people draws inferences about the character of others based upon
observed behavior” (Fritz Heiders). Our first day at the school we had an opening ceremony. On
one half of the room sat the students on the other half of the room sat Youthlinc. We were all
quiet because we didn’t know what to expect. We were silently observing others and how they
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interacted with others of their class. In the opening ceremonie talents were exchanged and we
became more comfortable, though we didn’t know how to interact with each other. The more
risks we took the less uncertain we became. This can relate to the axiomatic theory.
The axiomatic theory is “self evident truth that requires no additional proof” (Berger).
Berger came up with 8 axioms which are the foundation of the uncertainty reduction theory.
These 8 axioms are combined in several ways into 28 theorems to cover the overall human
uncertainty.
“Axiom 1: Given the high level of uncertainty present at the onset of the entry phase, as
the amount of verbal communication between stranger’s increases, the level of
uncertainty for each interactant in the relationship will decrease. As uncertainty is further
reduced,
the
amount
of
verbal
communication
will
increase.
Axiom
2:
As nonverbal affiliative expressiveness increases, uncertainty levels will decrease in an
initial interaction situation. In addition, decreases in uncertainty level will cause increases
in nonverbal affiliative expressiveness. Axiom 3: High levels of uncertainty cause
increases in information-seeking behavior. As uncertainty decline, information-seeking
behavior decreases. Axiom 4: High levels of uncertainty in a relationship cause decreases
in the intimacy level of communication content. Low levels of uncertainty produce high
levels of intimacy. Axiom 5: High levels of uncertainty produce high rates of reciprocity.
Low levels of uncertainty produce low levels of reciprocity. Axiom 6: Similarities
between persons reduce uncertainty, while dissimilarities produce increases in
uncertainty. Axiom 7: Increases in uncertainty level produce decreases in liking;
decreases in uncertainty produce increases in liking. Axiom 8: Shared communication
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networks reduce uncertainty, while lack of shared networks increases uncertainty”
(Griffin).
I experienced all of these axioms, but I will center in on one particular experience on how
my relationship went from being strangers to friends. I noticed that the only way to reduce my
uncertainty with the Guatemalans was to get out of my comfort zone and try to start a
conversation with them even though we don’t speak the same language. One day we were
working on the beautification of the girls rooms; this includes cleaning them, painting the walls
with a coat of colorful paint and then painting pictures on the walls. I began by drawing a bunny
on the wall. I noticed from behind that this girl was watching me, but I didn’t know if she wanted
to help me or not. Slowly she got closer and closer. This is an example of nonverbal warmth
increasing which was decreasing uncertainty (axiom 2). I then asked her if she wanted to help
me, as we were trying to talk I found out that she likes bunnies, as do I. This can relate to
increase in similarity decreases uncertainty (axiom 6). As our communication continued we get
more comfortable (increase in verbal communication decrease in uncertainty) (axiom 1). We
soon did all of the talking that we could and just painted, it was comfortable because we knew
what they other was trying to do (decrease in information seeking equals decrease in uncertainty
(axiom 3)). This overall decrease in uncertainty cause an increase in us liking each other (axiom
7). We ended up with a fantastic looking bunny and a warm and friendly friendship.
Right in that one experience there was a lot that was exchanged and many axioms that
took place. There are so many interactions that we have with others all of the time where many
axioms take place and we don’t even notice them. These axioms are what cause us to become
more comfortable and to get better acquainted with others. Though axioms don’t only have a
positive effect, if the exact opposite of my above experience wouldn’t have occurred as it did
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then I wouldn’t have made a new friend and I wouldn’t have found out anything new about her.
There are various other similar experiences that took place and that is how I grew to love the
people of Guatemala. They are so inviting, friendly, and hard workers and they truly want to
make a difference.
Going to Guatemala was a great learning experience that I would not trade for the world.
Before I went on the trip I researched the uncertainty reduction theory so that I knew what to
look for in my interactions with others. I knew that anything that I did could have either a
positive or negative effect on the person that I was interacting with and I wanted to make sure
that I only had positive interactions. I do strongly believe that “when people meet, their primary
concern is to reduce uncertainty about each other and their relationship” (Griffin A-1). This goes
by a day to day basis with everyone’s interactions with each other. The uncertainty between two
people greatly depends on how good their relationship is with each other. I did not only
experience that in Guatemala, but I now recognize it in my own daily life.
The only improvements that I would have made when going to Guatemala would be,
knowing their culture and their language better. That way there wouldn’t have been such a
barrier between us to begin with and I would have been able to better understand the people and
communicate with them better. This would have greatly decreased my uncertainty with the
people. That is my only regret and that I didn’t know Spanish better, all of the service that we did
went smoothly and everyone was happy.
It is our job to make the effort to reduce the uncertainty between us and others. If we
make no efforts then there would be no change that occurs. With decreasing uncertainty we can
gain lifetime friends. We must also realize that we are not the only ones that are uncertain about
others the people that we are uncertain about are just as uncertain as us. We need to make plans
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that help us take action to get to our goals of becoming less uncertain. Everyone should or does
have goals that they want to achieve, it is only human. We must also realize “the probability of
perfect communication is zero” (Berger). Communication is something that we are always going
to need to work on because nothing is perfect. If we want to become less uncertain it is our job to
take action to become less uncertain.
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Works Cited
Charles R. Berger and Richard Calabreses. “Some Explorations in Initial Interaction and
Beyond: Toward a Developmental Theory of Interpersonal Communication,” Human
Communication Research, Vol. 1, 1975, p. 100.
Charles R. Berger and William B. Gudykunst, “Uncertainty and Communication,” in Progress in
Communication Sciences, Vol. X, Brenda Dervin and Melvin Voigt (eds.), Ablex,
Norwood, NJ, 1991, p. 23.
Charles R. Berger, “Goals, Plans, and Mutual Understanding in Relationships,” in Individuals in
Relationships, Steve Duck (ed.). Sage, Newbury Park, CA, 1993, p. 34.
Charles R. Berger, “Producing Messages Under Uncertainty,” in Message Production: Advances
in Communication Theory, John O. Greene (ed.), Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ, 1997,
p. 222.
Griffin, Em. (2009) A First Look At Communication Theory. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Youthlinc. "Serving Local and International Needs of the Community." Youthlinc. N.p., July
2012. Web. 10 Jul 2012. <http://www.youthlinc.org/programs/guatemala.html>.