1st Edition

Uncertainty, Information Management, and Disclosure Decisions Theories and Applications

Edited By Tamara Afifi, Walid Afifi Copyright 2009
    448 Pages
    by Routledge

    448 Pages
    by Routledge

    This volume integrates scholarly work on disclosure and uncertainty with the most up-to-date, cutting edge research, theories, and applications. Uncertainty is an ever-present part of human relationships, and the ways in which people reduce and/or manage uncertainty involves regulating their communication with others through revealing and concealing information. This collection is devoted to collating knowledge in these areas, advancing theory and presenting work that is socially meaningful.

    This work includes contributions from renowned scholars in interpersonal uncertainty and information regulation, focusing on processes that bridge boundaries within and across disciplines, while maintaining emphasis on interpersonal contexts. Disciplines represented here include interpersonal, family, and health communication, as well as relational and social psychology. Key features of the volume include:

    • comprehensive coverage integrating the latest research on disclosure, information seeking, and uncertainty
    • a highly theoretical content, socially meaningful in nature (applied to real-world contexts)
    • an interdisciplinary approach that crosses sub-fields within communication.

    This volume is a unique and timely resource for advanced study in interpersonal, health, or family communication. With its emphasis on theory, the book is an excellent resource for graduate courses addressing theory and/or theory construction, and it will also appeal to scholars interested in applied research.

    Introduction: Tammy & Walid Afifi, UC Santa Barbara

    PART I: UNCERTAINTY

    Conceptualizations of Uncertainty and Information Management

    Chapter 1: Generally Unseen Challenges in Uncertainty Management: An Application of Problematic Integration Theory

    Austin S. Babrow, Ohio University

    Marianne S. Matthias, Butler University

    Chapter 2: Reclaiming Uncertainty: The Formation of New Meanings

    Leslie A. Baxter, University of Iowa

    Dawn O. Braithwaite, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

    Chapter 3: The Theory of Communication and Uncertainty Management: Implications from the Wider Realm of Information Behavior

    Timothy P. Hogan, Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

    Dale E. Brashers, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

    Chapter 4: Information Seeking and Interpersonal Outcomes Using the Internet

    Artemio Ramirez, Jr., Arizona State University

    Joseph B. Walther, Michigan State University

    Factors Impacting the Association Between Uncertainty and Information Management

    Chapter 5: Expanding the Role of Emotion in the Theory of Motivated Information Management

    Walid A. Afifi, University of California-Santa Barbara

    Chris R. Morse, Bryant University

    Chapter 6: Relational Uncertainty: Theory and Application

    Leanne K. Knobloch, University of Illinois

    Kristen L. Satterlee, University of Illinois

    Chapter 7: Motivated Cognition in Its Interpersonal Context: Need for Closure and Its Implications for Information Regulation and Social Interaction

    Mark Dechesne, The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), University of Maryland, College Park

    Arie W. Kruglanski, University of Maryland, College Park

    The Nature of Information Seeking in Specific Contexts

    Chapter 8: Use of the Risk Perception Attitude (RPA) Framework for Understanding Health Information Seeking: The Role of Anxiety, Risk Perception, and Efficacy Beliefs

    Rajiv N. Rimal, Johns Hopkins University

    Monique Mitchell Turner, University of Maryland

    Chapter 9: Managing Uncertainty in Work Interactions

    Michael W. Kramer, University of Missouri

    Chapter 10: Information Regulation in Work-Life: Applying the Comprehensive Model of Information Seeking to Organizational Networks

    J. David Johnson, University of Kentucky

    PART II: DISCLOSURE DECISIONS

    Chapter 11: Couples, Communication, and Uncertainty in the Face of Chronic Illness

    Daena J. Goldsmith, Lewis and Clark College

    Chapter 12: An Integrated Model of Health Disclosure Decision-Making

    Kathryn Greene, Rutgers University

    Chapter 13: Information Uncertainty and Sexual Disclosures in the Era of HIV/AIDS

    Serena C. Lo, George Washington University

    MarĂ­a Cecilia Zea, George Washington University

    Paul J. Poppen, George Washington University

    Predictors and Consequences of Withholding Information

    Chapter 14: Why People Conceal or Reveal Secrets: A Multiple Goals Theory Perspective

    John P. Caughlin, University of Illinois

    Anita Vangelisti, University of Texas-Austin

    Chapter 15: Secrecy in Close Relationships: Investigating Its Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Effects

    Catrin Finkenauer, VU University Amsterdam

    Kaska E. Kubacka, VU University Amsterdam

    Rutger C. M. E. Engels, Radboud University Nijmegen

    Peter Kerkhof, VU University Amsterdam

    Chapter 16: Conflict avoidance: A functional analysis

    Michael Roloff, Northwestern University

    Courtney Wright, University of Tennessee

    Chapter 17: The Standards for Openness Hypothesis: A Gendered Explanation for Why Avoidance is so Dissatisfying

    Tamara D. Afifi, University of California-Santa Barbara

    Andrea Joseph, University of California-Santa Barbara

    Challenges to Disclosure

    Chapter 18: Regulating the Privacy of Confidentiality: Grasping the Complexities through Communication Privacy Management Theory

    Sandra Petronio, IU Center for Bioethics, Indiana School of Medicine,

    Jennifer Reierson, North Dakota State University

    Chapter 19: Why Disclosing to a Confidant Can Be So Good (or Bad) for Us

    Anita Kelly, University of Notre Dame

    Diane Macready, University of Notre Dame

    Chapter 20: The Divorce Disclosure Model (DDM): Why Parents Disclose Negative Information about the Divorce to their Children and its Effects

    Tamara D. Afifi, University of California, Santa Barbara

    Paul Schrodt, Texas Christian University

    Tara McManus, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

    Biography

    Tamara D. Afifi (Ph.D., University of Nebraska-Lincoln) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has published over fifty articles and chapters in numerous national and international outlets, and she was the recipient of the Young Scholar Award from the International Communication Association in 2006.

    Walid A. Afifi (Ph.D., University of Arizona) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is an author of more than 50 articles and chapters, has served as Associate Editor for both the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships and Personal Relationships, and has been active as a member of several editorial boards.