Problematic Integration Theory

Problematic integration (PI) theory grew out of dissatisfaction with expectancy-value theories of persuasion and action and uses and gratifications models of audience motivation. These and related theories posit that meaning and action are founded on judgments of probability (e.g., that an act would have one or another consequence) and value (e.g., value of the consequence for the actor). Austin Babrow noticed that these models under-theorized health communication phenomena: [Page 1102]when people are uncertain, ambivalent, and wants and wishes conflict with expectations.

Building on these insights and a broad survey of literature, Babrow argued that mind, meaning, and action arise out of two basic orientations. In one, people form meanings by associating objects of thought (things, people, and ideas with attributes; antecedents, causes, and acts with consequents). These associations are termed probabilistic orientations because they are held with varying strength, from taken-for-granted certainty to various levels of perceived likelihood to irresolvable uncertainty. Associative meanings are joined by a second dimension of meaning in the form of evaluation; objects of thought and their associations are judged in terms of their implications for well-being. To take a simple example, noticing a backache, one may come to recognize it as the result of recent yard work (probabilistic orientation), which evokes some form of evaluative meaning or orientation (e.g., indifference, annoyance, or upset, if it triggers thoughts of physical decline).

Through communication, people acquire and continually refine probabilistic and evaluative orientations. As this occurs, people also synthesize the two orientations in building up understandings, goals, intentions, plans, and lines of action and interaction. The two orientations flow effortlessly into action when beliefs or expectations align with values and desires, or when perceived reality aligns with preferences. However, integration of beliefs and values or expectations and desires is often problematic. A central tenet of the theory is that communication is essential to experiences with problematic integration. Communication shapes probabilistic and evaluative orientations and their (problematic) integration; effective communication is adapted to specific integrative dilemmas.

The theory's earliest articulation specified four common forms of problematic integration: (1) diverging expectation and desire (the backache is likely to recur), (2) ambiguous probability (the backache may or may not recur), (3) ambivalence (avoid backache by giving up a beloved garden), and (4) impossibility (growing younger). Although summaries of the theory and numerous applications focused on these forms as defining attributes of the theory, they were never intended to be an exhaustive catalogue of PI experiences.

Thus, subsequent work has differentiated a wide variety of challenges that arise in probabilistic orientations, which the theory terms uncertainty. For example, ambiguity is now seen as a particular form or source of uncertainty (i.e., when signs can be interpreted in more than one way).