Just because people from cultures like those in the United States and Ireland have a greater acceptance for uncertainty than others doesn’t mean that they are entirely comfortable with the unknown. In fact, members of low uncertainty avoidance cultures will engage in passive, active, and interactive strategies to reduce uncertainty when dealing with a new relational partner (Chapter 7); similarly, they will seek opportunities to learn about a new organizational culture so that they can assimilate competently (Chapter 11).
Cultures also differ in the degree of anxiety that individual members tend to feel about the unknown. All cultures, to some degree, adapt their behaviors to reduce uncertainty and risk, a process called uncertainty avoidance. Cultures that are more anxious about the unknown are said to be high uncertainty avoidance cultures—people from these cultures strive to minimize risk and uncertainty. In high uncertainty avoidance cultures (such as in Portugal, Greece, Peru, and Japan), communication is usually governed by formal rules to satisfy a need for absolute truth, correct answers, and stability. People value consensus and have little tolerance for differences of opinion. By following social rules and minimizing dissent, they reduce uncertainty and anxiety in prescribed communication situations (Gudykunst, 1993).
In contrast, cultures with a higher tolerance for risk and ambiguity (like Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, and the United States) are considered low uncertainty avoidance cultures (Hofstede, Hofstede, & Minkov, 2010). Their lower level of anxiety about the unknown means that these cultures are comfortable with a variety of communication styles, are more tolerant of differences of opinion, and have fewer formal rules for behavior (Hoeken et al., 2003).