This dimension focuses on how cultures adapt to changes and cope with uncertainty.  Emphasis is on extent to which a culture feels threatened or is anxious about ambiguity.  It is not risk avoidance but rather, how one deals with ambiguity.

Traits of Uncertainty Avoidance

	High Uncertainty Avoidance	Low Uncertainity Avoidance
social norms	conservatism, law and order	openness to change, innovation
	xenophobic	tolerance of diversity
	express emotions	supress emotions
politics / legal system	weak interest in politics	high interest in politics
	citizen protest repressed	citizen protest accepted
	more and specific laws and regulations	fewer and general laws and regulations
religion	Catholic, Islam, Judaism, Shintoism	Protestant,Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism
	aggressively fundamentalist	little persecution for beliefs
	Ritualized / ceremonial	Avoid ritualization and ceremony
school	teachers have all answers	teachers may say “don’t know”
	structured learning	open-ended learning
family	traditional gender roles	fewer gender roles
	children taught world is hostile	children taught world is benevolent