Attributional Confidence and Uncertainty in Initial Interaction

Attributional confidence, either in retroactive explanations of behavior or in proactive predictions of behavior, is discussed as a way of operationalizing uncertainty. Instruments for assessing attributional confidence either through the proactive mode or through the retroactive mode are constructed, and reliability and validity evidence are presented. Hypotheses derived from the axioms of uncertainty reduction theory are tested. Attributional confidence may be one way of making the nominal construct of uncertainty subject to direct testing.