I was on my way to the sixth floor of the Royal Mandaya Hotel for a seminar of the Budget Office Management (BOM) just a few weeks ago. As I was approaching the elevator, a boy approached me and asked where he could find the stairs that will lead him to the sixth floor of the building. At that time, I was also unfamiliar with building so I suggested him to take the elevator instead. He then asked another person about the location of the stairs but still that person also didn’t know where the stairs were. After that, he then followed me to the elevator.
When we got in the elevator there was a guard operating it. Aside from us there were also a group of adults who were laughing and talking so loud inside the elevator. They talked as if they were the only one in it. As they were talking we just remained quiet and were unable to do anything about it. The boy positioned himself at the left front side of the elevator where the guard operating the elevator was just right across him. The place he chose to stand was also the farthest place from all the other occupants of the said elevator.
The boy seemed to be so quiet and uncomfortable the whole time we were in the elevator. He was always looking everywhere inside, tried to avoid eye contact with others, and always checked his phone every second. Aside from that, he also seemed to stare at the guard as the guard was pushing the buttons of the elevator.
A few moments later, we got to the place where the seminar was being hold. When he met his companions, one of them asked him, “Kumusta an imu firstaym sa ilevator?” He just smiled and did not say anything about the question. 1
Based on the line “Kumusta an imu firstaym sa ilevator?” that was said by the boy’s companion, we can say that it was the boy’s first time to ride the elevator. Riding an elevator can be a psychologically draining experience (Driver, 2007). The feeling of awkwardness comes from simply not knowing how to act in a given situation (Bell, 1996). Since it was his first time he was still unaware about all the things in an elevator. In this case let us apply Charles Berger’s Uncertainty Reduction Theory, because it’s focused on how human use communication to gain knowledge and create understanding. Since the boy hasn’t encountered the elevator in the past, the boy didn’t have any idea what to expect. When the ability of a person to predict what will occur decreases the level of uncertainty increases (Griffin, 2006).
The fourth axiom of Berger’s Uncertainty Reduction Theory, Self – Disclosure says that high levels of uncertainty produce low levels of intimacy. This is why the boy tried to look for the stairs to avoid the elevator because his high level of uncertainty towards the elevator decreased his liking to the machine thus making him want the stairs instead were he has low uncertainty level.
Griffin stated in his book that, “Ignorance is not bliss; it’s frustrating!” Berger claims that our drive to reduce uncertainty about new things gets boost from three prior conditions.
Anticipation of future interaction: When we are certain that will encounter them again
Incentive value: When there’s something we want from them
Deviance: They act in an unfamiliar
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In the boy’s case, he was affected by all three counts. He wanted to go to the sixth floor but he didn’t know where the stairs were. He knew that he had no other choice but to use the elevator.
This is why he took the elevator. Also, since the seminar was held on the sixth floor of the building, he knew he will have to go down after the seminar. The only way to do that without the stairs is through how he got there in the first place, which was through the elevator. The machine was new to him so he didn’t know how it worked. This made his curiosity level about the machine rise. As Griffin stated, if a dog meets another dog, chances are they will try to sniff each other to find out what their counterpart is. Humans are no different. According to the third axiom of Berger’s Uncertainty Reduction Theory, high levels of uncertainty cause the increase in information-seeking behavior. As the boy’s curiosity rise along with the knowledge that he needs the machine, he’s desire of getting information about it also rise.
In this case, he should have been able to predict and explain (Griffin, 2006). If the elevator went up to the sixth floor or went down to the ground floor, the boy would have wanted to know why and how. As he did this, according to Berger he should have faced two kinds of uncertainties. First, it was because he was not sure how he should act when he was in the elevator. Should he stand with the adults and talk with them? Should he be the one to press the buttons? The second was questions aimed at discovering what the machine really is. What makes the elevator goes up? How do you operate it? Is it safe? Reducing cognitive uncertainty means acquiring information that allows you to discard a lot of these possibilities (Griffin, 2006).
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The boy’s main goal was use the elevator without doing the wrong or embarrassing himself by letting everyone know that it was his first time in an elevator. His overall strategy is to learn how to properly use it or to seek information. Berger claims that “plans are hierarchically organized with abstract action representations at the top of the hierarchy and progressively more concrete representations towards the bottom.”
There are three approaches in seeking information which are the passive strategy, active strategy, and inactive strategy (Griffin, 2006). The passive strategy is when we observe others from a distance; the active strategy is when we ask someone (a third party) for information, and the inactive strategy is when we talk face-to-face with the other person and ask specific questions. Based on the boy’s goal there is only one approach of information seeking that is applicable to his situation. This is the passive strategy.
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Now that we already know what is the boy’s plan and main goal let us now analyze how he tried to fulfill it. Uncertainty Reduction Theory, as stated earlier is focused on how human use communication to gain knowledge and create understanding. Though it is impossible for the boy to literally talk to the elevator to gain understanding and knowledge about it, it is still possible for the boy to use communication to gain knowledge about the elevator. This is because the boy doesn’t have to communicate with the elevator to gain information about it. All the other people who were in the elevator already unconsciously delivered him messages through nonverbal cues. Sixty percent of our communication is nonverbal – without any use of spoken or written language, only with the aid of mimicry, gestures and other forms of the body-language (Peters, 2002). Gochehenour also wrote:
“Filipinos have a highly developed sensitivity to the nonverbal aspects of communication.
Filipinos are considerably less dependent on spoken words than Europeans and Americans.
They watch their listeners carefully and identify body language cues to assess what the
person is feeling.”
Those nonverbal cues were there activities during the whole ride (e.g., the guard’s way of pushing the buttons to operate the machine. Through this the act of gaining information through communication was realized.
Aside from the boy’s high uncertainty level towards the elevator, there were also other factors which affected his behavior throughout the whole ride. One of these factors is personal space. The term “personal space” was originally coined by Katz (1937). Personal space is defined as a portable invisible boundary surrounding us, into others may not trespass (Hall, 1996). The size and shape of the personal space depend on our cultural norms and individual preferences (Griffin, 2006).
The study of “perception and space” with humans is called proxemics and it appears it applies to us everywhere, especially in tight spaces – like in an elevator. According to Janine Driver, a body language expert, there are four proxemic zones. These are the intimate, social, personal-casual, and Public zones.
Intimate: 0 to 18 inches Social: 4 to 10 feet
Personal-casual: 1.5 to 4 feet Public: 10 feet and beyond
The boy’s personal space or distance from all the occupants of the elevator complements his approached in seeking information about the elevator. This is because using the passive approach you just observe people from a distance. His distance was already enough for him to observe the activities inside the elevator.
According to Sommer (1959), the closer the distance the higher the level of inter action. The boy was far from all the other occupants except from the guard operating the elevator who was just right across him. This means that the boy had a good quality of communication through receiving the guard’s nonverbal messages. This is also supported by Hall’s personal distance which states that closer distance causes better performance by the student than other distances.
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A theory proposed by Altman (1975), views personal space as a boundary regulation mechanism to achieve desired levels of personal and group privacy – an interpersonal boundary by which people regulate interaction with others.
A theory proposed by Altman (1975), views personal space as a boundary regulation mechanism to achieve desired levels of personal and group privacy – an interpersonal boundary by which people regulate interaction with others.
With respect to special differences as a function of being indoors and outdoors, Little (1965) and Pempus, Sawaya, and Cooper (1975) found that subjects kept more distance when indoors than outdoors.
This means that the boy’s act of putting himself away from all the other occupants of the elevator (except the guard) was an act of putting a boundary to all possible interactions with them.
According to Bell (1996), people tend to withdraw themselves when exposed to things which their uncertainty level is high or have little knowledge about. This explains why the boy chose the left front side.
People can exhibit greater personal space when in the corner of a room than when in the center (Bell, 1996). As stated by Paul A. Bell in his book, we prefer greater distance in crowded than in uncrowded conditions. Also, Daves and Swaffer (1971) found that individuals desire more space in a narrow room. This is because personal space increases with the reduction in room size. 7
The unwritten rules of elevator etiquette say that one should distance himself from others and avoid communication to other passengers while taking the elevator, don’t try talk to strangers unless you want to annoy them (Driver, 2007). Driver (2007) also stated that when it comes to body language, you can reduce a special invasion if you eliminate large body movements, decreases eye contact and lower your tone and pitch of voice.
Griffin (2006) stated that when trying to ease the stress caused by uncertainty, good manners go beyond the common sense.
This explains why the boy was so quiet throughout the whole ride. Since he didn’t know the proper behavior inside an elevator, he was so careful with his every action. This made him keep quiet to avoid doing mistakes and embarrass himself.
The group of adults also contributed to his way of behavior inside the elevator. The way they talked so loud inside a small place produced noise to the other occupants. This causes irritation to the boy and made him stay away from them. Noise over which we have no perceived control is also more disturbing than noise we can control readily (Bell, 1996).
Since the only one who opposes the noise is the boy, he keeps quiet. According to parallel of silence when you are in a situation where majority believes the opposite of your belief, you tend to just keep quite.
This caused him to lose control over the situation where he is not part of the majority. The consequence of loss of control, according to the behavior constraint model, is learned
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helplessness. When you perceive that you are losing control over the environmental are constraining your behavior, you experience discomfort.
Since noise produces discomfort this became a factor for the boy’s personal space. This is because as a buffer against potential emotional and physical threats (e.g., too much attacks, physical attacks by others). The more the boy dislikes the act done by the group of adults the larger the personal space of the boy inside the elevator.
The larger the personal space of the boy inside the elevator the more he implies that he doesn’t like the people inside there. According to Bell the distance we maintain from others determines our relationship with others.
If we compare the distance of the boy from the group of adults and his distance from the guard, we can say that he is has lesser restrictions to the guard than the other occupants who were annoying because their loud voices. This tells us that he likes the guard more than all the other occupants because he has lesser personal space over him.
This is because of the fact that the guard operates the elevator and he needs to know about the elevator giving him the need to know something about the guard – which is how he controls the elevator.
In this part, the curiosity of the boy towards the elevator due to his high level of uncertainty leads to his curiosity towards the way the guard operates the elevator. This is because his only source of information about the elevator is the guard and his need to learn about the machine is giving him an extra push in trying to gain information about it. 9
Aside from the nonverbal cues that the guard was unconsciously sending him, the signs such as the lights and buttons inside the elevator were also a source of information. At that point the all those other sources were right near the guard. This made him more focused on where the guard was. As discussed earlier, the rate of participation of students to their teachers is affected by their distances. We all know that communication is participation. According to the Uncertainty Reduction Theory of Charles Berger, communication is used to gain knowledge about something which you are uncertain about.
This means that if you want to communicate to gain knowledge or understanding, you have to be at a closer distance to in order for it to be more effective. This explains why the boy has a closer distance to the guard.
I order for him to effectively gather information he must observe in a closer range. This is because it is easier for him to see the nonverbal cues of the guard as well as the symbols in the elevator which gave him the information about the elevator. By carefully observing the guard using the passive approach he successfully achieved his goal. He got to the sixth floor without letting everyone know that it was his first time to experience taking an elevator.
The situation showed how uncertainty causes people to act carefully. Also, it showed how uncertainty causes people to communicate to gain knowledge. Another factor is how space affected the act of reducing the uncertainty level by trying to gain knowledge through communication to other occupants of the elevator. Therefore people’s effort to reduce the uncertainty level affects their behavior not only towards the thing they are uncertain about but also towards the people or other factor which are connected to it. 10
Works Cited
EM Griffin. A First Look At Communication Theory. 6th ed. McGraw-Hill Companies, 2006.
Bell, Pual. Environmental Psychology.4th ed. United States of America, 1996
J. Driver. Etiquette, 3rd ed. United States of America, 2007
Jens Peters, Reisenhandbuch Philippine, Berlin, 2002
Aaru / Alfredo & Gace Roses
