Dimensionality, Map Matching, and Anxiety
By supplementing the theory of human communication with the concept of the dimensions of the cognitive field, three stages of communication or three stages in the matching of the cognitive “maps” of the communicators can be distinguished. Different realms of prediction concerning response to a communication are possible (or impossible) at each of these stages. A general hypothesis is that similarity of cognitive structure (“collinearity”) at the second stage permits more pronounced influence effects at the third stage. A related hypothesis (among others discussed) is that the relation between anxiety and susceptibility to attitude-change depends on the cognitive dimensionality required by the communication. This hypothesis is defended by showing that it reconciles some apparently contradictory results in studies of anxiety and attitude change.