The Affective Regulation of Uncertainty: The Semiotic Dimensionality Model (SDM)

Sergio Salvatore (), Terri Mannarini, Alessandro Gennaro, Giovanna Celia, Serena De Dominicis, Raffaele De Luca Picione, Salvatore Iuso, Skaiste Kerušauskaitė, Johann Roland Kleinbub, Arianna Palmieri, Filippo Pergola, Matteo Reho, Alessia Rochira and Giulia Rocchi
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Sergio Salvatore: Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Salento, Via di Valesio 24, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Terri Mannarini: Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Salento, Via di Valesio 24, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Alessandro Gennaro: Department of Dynamic, Clinical and Health Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via degli Apuli 1, 00185 Rome, Italy
Giovanna Celia: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Foggia, Viale Pinto 1, 71122 Foggia, Italy
Serena De Dominicis: Center of Psychology Studies, Via Manifattura Tabacchi 34b, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Raffaele De Luca Picione: Department of Law, Giustino Fortunato Telematic University, Viale Raffaele Delcogliano 12, 82100 Benevento, Italy
Salvatore Iuso: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Foggia, Viale Pinto 1, 71122 Foggia, Italy
Skaiste Kerušauskaitė: Department of Dynamic, Clinical and Health Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via degli Apuli 1, 00185 Rome, Italy
Johann Roland Kleinbub: Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education, and Applied Psychology, University of Padua, Piazza Capitaniato 3, 35139 Padua, Italy
Arianna Palmieri: Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education, and Applied Psychology, University of Padua, Piazza Capitaniato 3, 35139 Padua, Italy
Filippo Pergola: Association of Psychoanalysis of the Educational Relationship (APRE), Via Claudio Asello 13, 00175 Rome, Italy
Matteo Reho: Department of Dynamic, Clinical and Health Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via degli Apuli 1, 00185 Rome, Italy
Alessia Rochira: Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Salento, Via di Valesio 24, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Giulia Rocchi: Department of Dynamic, Clinical and Health Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via degli Apuli 1, 00185 Rome, Italy

Social Sciences, 2023, vol. 12, issue 4, 1-25

Abstract: This paper presents a novel psychological model of the socio-cognitive management of uncertainty, the semiotic dimensional model (SDM). The SDM claims that uncertainty increases the momentum of affect-laden meanings in meaning-making. This is so because affective meanings provide a simplified interpretation of the world that restores the experience of being able to make sense of the reality destabilized by uncertainty. Moreover, the SDM models the affective meanings in terms of low-dimensional mental phase space (MPS). Each dimension of the MPS detects a facet of the context. The lower the MPS dimensionality, the lower the number of facets of the context processed, therefore, the more simplified the meaning-making is. We attained the first empirical validation of the SDM in a sample of 120 Italian people. First, the SDM assumption that the low-dimensional MPS is the computational descriptor of affective meaning was tested. Second, an experimental study was designed in which uncertainty was manipulated so as to assess its effects on the dimensionality of participants’ MPS. It was hypothesized that uncertainty induces a decrease in the MPS dimensionality. Results were consistent with both hypotheses. Theoretical implications of the SDM and its relationship with other theories are discussed and future research direction outlined.

Keywords: uncertainty; semiotic dimensionality model; affective pertinentisation; attitude towards foreigners; ethnic identity; punitive attitude (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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