All the talk this week about the Uncertainty-Reduction Theory and the Social Exchange Theory brought gave me some ideas all while the class was discussing it. However, when taking the lesson up, all I could think about to associate with these two theories is something everybody just loves to hate - awkward moments. Look at it this way, since the main focus of the Uncertainty-Reduction theory is well, uncertainty between people and the main argument of the Social Exchange Theory is the weighing out of options (through the economic principle of Opportunity Costs) when it comes to relationships, what better way to explain both than through an awkward situation, right? I know, sounds a bit iffy, but hey, I promise this will all make sense in the end. Hopefully...
In my books, there are a plethora of awkward moments one can think of and can experience in everyday life. Things like spilling a glass of water on your pants and seeing that girl you like think that you actually had an accident, or the time when you hit an inanimate object with your car and have the driver next to you give you a stare that reads "incompetence" or even the times where your writing a paper that was due an hour ago and feel totally guilty for it because you know you should have done it in the afternoon but was too tired to do so because you woke up early for an Accounting class that started at 8 am and ended at 12 noon. (Sorry sir, my bad, won't happen again). Anyway, I believe that when it comes right down to it, there are 3 gay baby making situations that tops my list and they are as follows.
1.) Meeting a person you barely know and being left alone with him/her for an extended period of time.
2.) Watching a sex scene with your parents in a movie theater.
3.) The Breaking-up process.
But since I want to emphasize my point and present you with the most awkward situation possible and use both theorems to discuss it. I have come up with the most awkward situation possible, essentially combining all 3 instances and creating a dream team of awkward moments, if you will.
Meeting an Ex that you had been with for 5+ years and being left alone in an isolated place for a very,very long period of time and have absolutely nothing to talk about because both of you are still bitter about cheating on one another with one another's best friends, while your parents watch everything unfold and judge you by your every move through closed circuit cameras.
Yes, the most awkward situation ever. The Napoleon Bonaparte of awkward situations, small but terrible. And yet, even this has it's Waterloo. Through the Uncertainty-Reduction Theory, we know that we essentially need to reduce the uncertainties between the 2 exes. It may be through Nonverbal Warmth or Verbal Communication,but the main thing is, one of the two need to swallow their pride and at least try to converse to ease the tension. They haven't seen each other for a while so they need to go through the Information Seeking process and catch up with each other through Active and Interactive Strategies such as asking friendly questions about each other, self-disclosure, or even the occasional joke about the time they were together (sometimes more awkward situations, when done with the right amount of humor, may actually lead to the decrease of uncertainty. I can honestly vouch for this.) Lastly, once the (ex) couple has gained some level of rapport, one can now determine if the relationship can be solidified once again. Here, both need to weigh both pros and cons and conclude if there will actually be consequences if they do agree to try and work things out and remain friends or such.
In the end, I agree that this little plot I've drawn out above isn't fool poof. However, through the knowledge of both these theories and with a little bit of humility, humor and self-confidence, anyone can turn an awkward situation into a more or less pleasant one. Well, at least they can try,right?
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