Review of The uncertain mind: Individual differences in facing the unknown.

Abstract

RICHARD M. SORRENTINO AND CHRISTOPHER J. R. RONEY The Uncertain Mind: Individual Differences in Facing the Unknown Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press, 2000, 204 pages (ISBN 0-86377-691-4, us$44.95, Hardcover) In 1946, following years of suffering in Nazi concentration camps, psychiatrist Viktor Frankl observed that the search for meaning in this hellish environment was essential to survival. Around the same time, Fritz Heider argued that a search for meaning in life underlies our tendency to think in terms of causality or attributions. The book under review is located within an important intellectual tradition in psychology, one that speaks to something about human nature. Sorrentino and Roney approach this topic through the study of individual differences in whether people seek out certainty or uncertainty in their lives. While some of us find meaning in terms of the familiar and predictable, others search for meaning in the novel uncertainties of life. To the uncertainty-oriented person (UO), uncertainty represents an opportunity to learn about the situation itself or about oneself, and they will thus be open to new ideas and tolerant of others who are different. The certainty-oriented person (co) seeks clarity, predictability, and familiarity. Thus they tend to be less receptive to new ideas, and relatively intolerant of those who are different. In a dual-concept model that parallels Atkinson's classic work on achievement motivation, Sorrentino and Roney argue that the approach component seeking the joys and challenges of dealing with uncertainty - is not simply a polar opposite of an avoidance component - the need to maintain clarity and predictability about oneself and one's environment. A need for uncertainty (nUncertainty) is measured in terms of imagery scored from open-ended stories and avoidance of uncertainty is operationalized by the time-tested construct of authoritarianism, representing distrust and hostility toward the unfamiliar. Resultant analyses are based on a simple difference score (standardized) between the nUncertainty and authoritarianism measures. As well, in some analyses, participants are grouped into those with an uncertainty orientation (high on nUncertainty, low on authoritarianism), those with a certainty orientation (low nUncertainty, high authoritarianism) and those with a mixed profile. Indeed, their research indicates that people who score in the middle tercile tend to be quite unpredictable, perhaps conflicted with regard to uncertainty, or driven by other concerns. Sorrentino and Roney argue that uo is consistent across situations, in effect, a trait. co people are concerned with maintaining a sense of clarity and avoiding confusion while uos take pleasure in resolving confusion and uncertainty, regardless of context. However, predictions may be domain specific, because Uo interacts with other variables. Such interactions are reported with achievement motivation, depression, and adult attachment style. Two theoretical models are elaborated. One relates uo to the dual-process model of information processing, conscious, deliberative thought as opposed to habit and heuristics. Sorrentino and Roney point out that while most theorists and their research participants (university students) tend to be UOS, many, perhaps most human beings, prefer greater certainty. The research summarized in Chapter 4 demonstrates that co people process differently from what social cognitivists would predict. Clearly, theorists in social cognition must re-examine their models and their methods. The second theoretical thrust relates Uo to action. People will be more motivated to act in situations where they are emotionally engaged, situations where there is uncertainty to resolve for the Uos, and where there is clarity and certainty for the Cos. This is extended into a mathematical representation of how uo and affect interact with situational uncertainty (Appendix A). …