Marris (1996, p. 16) contends that ‘uncertainty is created by our own preconceptions . . . because events only appear uncertain in some context of purposes, and expectations of orderliness’. He reiterates that ‘what constitutes uncertainty depends on what we want to be able to predict, what we can predict, and what we might be able to do about it’. Gudykunst (2005) claims that uncertainty is a cognitive phenomenon that affects the way we think about strangers. Turner (1998, p. 61) defines anxiety as a ‘generalized or unspecified sense of disequilibrium or imbalance’. It stems from the feelings of unease, tension, worry or apprehension about what might happen.