Walid Afifi

About

Walid A. Afifi (PhD, University of Arizona) is a Professor in the Department of Communication at UC Santa Barbara, where he also serves as Associate Dean and Director of Community Engaged Initiatives in the Division of Social Sciences. His research focuses on the experience of uncertainty and its impact on information seeking, decision-making, and well-being. This work has led to the development of the Theory of Motivated Information Management, which he has extended to the context of communities experiencing chronic uncertainty through the development of the Chronic Uncertainty Framework. Afifi's program of research primarily revolves around uncertainty and information-management decisions, with a particular emphasis on immigrant communities and communities experiencing trauma, considering the sociostructural determinants of behavior. He has been recognized for his commitment to research, teaching, and service that involves and empowers all communities, receiving awards such as UCSB’s Faculty Senate Teaching Award, the Resource Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity's Esteemed Ally Award, and the Margaret T. Gettman Award for Service to Students. Afifi teaches courses related to community engagement, interpersonal communication, nonverbal communication, relational communication, and uncertainty. He was elected as a Fellow of the International Communication Association in 2021 and is currently serving as President of the National Communication Association.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Computer Science
• Political Science
• Social psychology
• History
• Anthropology
• Ancient history
• Geography
• Psychology
• Media studies

Selected publications

• #CommSoWEIRD

  Routledge eBooks · 2020 · 66 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  As part of an effort to contribute to that discussion, this chapter offers a window into the level of sample representativeness within Interpersonal Communication research, as reflected by manuscripts published in several Communication journals during the past five years. The first criterion was that the journal be affiliated with either the National Communication Association or the International Communication Association. While that criterion eliminated journals that often publish interpersonal…

  PublisherDOI

• ‘Fractured communities’: uncertainty, stress, and (a lack of) communal coping in Palestinian refugee camps

  Journal of Applied Communication Research · 2016-09-22 · 58 citations

  article

  This study examined how communal coping reveals itself in Palestinian refugee camps and the conditions that promote or prevent its occurrence. Individual and dyadic interviews were conducted with 40 mothers and one of their adolescent children living in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. The results revealed that communal coping existed within the mother–adolescent dyad to a certain extent, but was rare within the larger context of the refugee camps. While families and neighbors did not typic…

  PublisherDOI

• The relative impacts of disclosure and secrecy: the role of (perceived) target response

  Current Opinion in Psychology · 2019-08-23 · 25 citations

  review1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Networks of Passing: Experiences of Undocumented Latin American Immigrants’ Identity Negotiation

  Journal of Intercultural Communication Research · 2016-08-08 · 19 citations

  article

  Undocumented Latin American immigrants are one of the fastest-growing populations in the United States, and they are one of the most vulnerable. Due to constant fear of deportation, these immigrants have to communicatively “pass” for documented in a variety of situations, and they might be likely to use informal network ties (social capital) to do so. Through eight diverse focus group interviews of undocumented immigrants, this study explores how this population passes. Undocumented immigrants u…

  PublisherDOI

• Uncertainty and Coping During COVID-19

  Springer eBooks · 2021 · 18 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Tamara D. Afifi

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  28 shared

• Michael T. Stephenson

  Newcastle University

  13 shared

• Susan E. Morgan

  University of Miami

  13 shared

• Tyler R. Harrison

  12 shared

• Shawn D. Long

  Kennesaw State University

  12 shared

• John P. Caughlin

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  11 shared

• Laura K. Guerrero

  10 shared

• Katy E. Carpenter‐Theune

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  9 shared

Awards & honors

• Fellow of the International Communication Association (2021)
• UCSB’s Faculty Senate Teaching Award
• Resource Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity's Esteemed A…
• Margaret T. Gettman Award for Service to Students

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