Since the mid-twentieth century, the concept of information has been a strong foundation for communication research and the development of communication theory. Information exchange is a basic human function in which individuals request, provide, and exchange information with the goal of reducing uncertainty. Uncertainty Reduction theory (URT), accredited to Charles R. Berger and Richard J. Calabrese (1975), recognized that reducing uncertainty was a central motive of communication. Through the development of URT, these scholars pioneered the field of interpersonal communication by examining this significant relationship in uncertainty research.
Heath and Bryant (2000) state: One of the motivations underpinning interpersonal communication is the acquisition of information with which to reduce uncertainty
(p. 153). The
study of information is basic to all fields of communication, but its relation to the study of uncertainty in particular advanced theoretical research in the field of interpersonal
communication. URT places the role of communication into the central focus which was a key step in the development of the field of interpersonal communication. Berger and Calabrese (1975) note:
When communication researchers have conducted empirical research on the interpersonal communication process, they have tended to employ social psychological theories as starting
points
(p. 99). The research underlying the theory and efforts made by other contemporaries marked the emergence of interpersonal communication research; with the development of URT,
communication researchers began to look to communication for theories of greater understanding rather than theoretical approaches founded in other social sciences.
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