The Acquaintanceship Process:

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Abstract
The present study examined the relationship between uncertainty (reduction), information seeking, and liking during unstructured initial interaction. Participants' uncertainty and liking were measured before and after observing their partner, and again after they had interacted with the partner. The preobservation measure of uncertainty dealt with persons' uncertainty about acquaintanceship in general (i.e., their global uncertainty). The conversations, which were tape-recorded, were transcribed and coded to generate measures of question asking and self-disclosure. Analyses showed significant linear and quadratic trends in the uncertainty scores; global uncertainty was also significantly related to uncertainty about the specific partner after interaction and the amount of uncertainty reduction that participants achieved. Uncertainty and liking were inversely correlated both before and after persons talked to each other although the analysis provided little evidence of causal conjunction. Further, whereas global uncertainty was predictive of amount of information seeking, target-specific uncertainty was unrelated to the frequency of both question asking and disclosure. These findings are discussed in the context of uncertainty reduction theory.