1. Problematic Integration Theory
Tran My Trang: s3311623
Duong Nguyen Phuong Nam: s3311632

2. Organization
Background and History
Two kinds of Orientations in Problematic Integration
Forms of Problematic Integration
Applying Problematic Integration

3. 1. Background and History
Austin Babrow:
_ Professor of Communication from the University of Illinois in 1986
_ 1992: Published the first statement of Problematic Integration theory
_ He concerned: persuasion was not always a dispassionate process
_ He believes: peoples expectations and their desires are foundational to human experience
Inspiration of the theory

4. Problematic Integration
A general theory of message reception and processing
how individuals receive, process and make sense of specific message and situations.

5. WHAT is being INTEGRATED in Problematic Integration ?

6. 2. Two kinds of Orientations in Problematic Integration

• Probabilistic Orientations
• 7. Evaluative Orientations

(Babrow, 1992,1995,2001,2004)

8. Probabilistic Orientations:
Your assessment of how something will be happen
Being very likely
Being very unlikely
Being unclear

9. Probabilistic Orientations:
Being very likely: something happen as you predict or expect.
Eg: Im sure I wont have any problem getting into RMIT.
Being very unlikely: something DOES NOT happen quite as you expect.
Eg: As a woman over 40, Im more likely to experience airline terrorism than to find a suitable husband
Being unclear: You do not have any predict or assesse for what will happen.
Eg: I have no idea how my parents will react when I tell them Im thinking about moving out of state

10. Evaluative Orientations:
Is this object, characteristic, event or outcome good or bad?
Positive
Negative
Neutral
(Babrow, 2003, pg.8)

11. Evaluative Orientations:
Positive
Eg: Going to RMIT will be great. I will be challenging and give me a lot of career opportunities.
Negative
Eg: Being alone for the rest of my life is the worst thing I can imagine-all that matters in life is a relationship with a significant mate.
Neutral
Eg: It does not really matter how my parents react, Im so excited about my new job, Im sure theyll adapt eventually.

12. WHEN Is Integration Problematic?

13. Not A Problematic
Probability is high + Evaluation is positive
eg: high budget + you want to be an RMIT student
Probability is low + Evaluation is negative
eg: low budget + you dont want to be an RMIT student
(Babrow,1992)

14. Problematic
When two orientations create tension/ conflict/ contradictory.
4 basic forms:

• Divergence
• 15. Uncertainty
• 16. Ambivalence
• 17. Impossibility