Uncertainty Management and Social Issues: Uncertainty as an Important Determinant of Reactions to Socially Deviating People1

Abstract

In this paper, the social psychology of uncertainty management is used to explain reactions to socially deviating people. In Study 1, we examine how people react to a person communicating negative messages about their home country; in Study 2, how a representative sample of the Dutch society reacts to encounters with a homeless person; and in Study 3, what the behavioral and psychological reactions are of people in an anticipated interaction with a homeless individual. All 3 studies reveal that personal uncertainty—whether made salient in a subtle manner or measured by means of individual differences in the extent to which uncertainty is considered an emotionally threatening experience—is an important determinant of reactions to socially deviating persons. Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest‐tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door.