Expectancy Violation Theory

In this paper there will be a critical analysis of the Expectancy Violations Theory and views points of a Christian on that theory. Expectancy Violations Theory is best defined as a way to explain how someone reacts to unexpected behavior of their friends and peers and the many meanings that people bring to the violation of their personal space. According to communicationtheory.org, “Expectancy violation is a communication theory which tries to explain the unexpected behaviors of human beings while interacting. The theory is based on the uncertainty reduction theory where the vagueness on the behaviors of the others is reduced through interaction” (communicationtheory.org). It is another way to measure how happy others interact with one another. There are proxemics levels of space to measure this physically. The first is personal space which is 2-4 feet. The next is social distance which is 4-12 feet. The next is public distance which is 12 feet. The truth is that the way Christians should react is the way that Jesus Christ would react. Christians should be welcoming and not bound by the earthly ways of communicating. Psalms 1:1-6 says,

Communication is everywhere. We, as interactive human beings, spend the majority of our time corresponding with others to satisfy our physical, identity, social, and practical needs (Adler, Rodman, & Sevigny, 2011). Often, this is consciously done; we search our minds for the accurate linguistic means to express our experiences, and use them to communicate with those around us. However, communication is not as straightforward and effortless as we may believe. It is, in fact, often unintentional, with 65% of it occurring as a result of non-verbal cues (Matsumoto, Shibata, Seiji, Mori, & Shioe, 2010). As mentioned by Marta Dynel (2011) in a study done on nonverbal communication, “Non verbal signs and signals ... are prevalent practically in

Communication involves more than exchanging words between people. Gestures, postures, facial expressions and even eye contacts are important during communication. Both verbal and nonverbal cues are important during communication and can help a person understand the speaker or listener’s emotions, attitudes or status. Understanding the existence of various cultures is necessary since different cultures have varying ways of communication (Lustig & Koester, 2012). Therefore, a communication style that is perceived as bad by a culture may be good in another culture. Besides, characteristics that may be essential for a particular culture may be quite irrelevant for another. In line with this dissimilarity, individuals need to adapt carefully and understand communication preferences and desires among cultures.

I am originally from Puerto Rico, which is a country in which communication is an integral part of society. The cultural norm of the Puerto Rican culture is to speak up when necessary and communicate clearly if we want things to be done. At the same time, I believe that in order to produce results, the manner in which communicating takes place, is an extremely important component. My culture also showed me how the emotions used when communicating, such as the use of the hands and body language, will dictate the tone and flow of the communication. The literature suggests that the majority (as much as 76%) of the message we gibe to another person during conversations is carried by non-verbal or para-verbal communication. Thus, we must be very careful and strategic in our use o non-verbal communication (Van Acker, 1997).

The purpose of this review of literature is to look at the current research of expectancy violations theory. The review covers twelve scholarly articles from 2005-2016. It includes research from the following fields: computer studies, neuroscience, behavioral sciences, men’s studies, and communication. All of these scholars study EVT in the context of interpersonal communication and they all reference Judee Burgoon, the creator of expectancy violations theory in their work (Burgoon et al., 2016; Chiles & Roloff, 2014; Dickter & Gyurovski, 2012; Frisby & Sidelinger, 2013; Houser, 2005; Johnson, 2012; Lannutti & Camero, 2007; McAuliff, Lapin, & Michel, 2015; Meltzer & McNulty, 2011; Miller-Ott & Kelly, 2015; Sidelinger & Bolen, 2015; Walther-Martin,

When communicating with others, it is important to consider the context in which we are working. For example, more formal language and behaviour would be used in a meeting and the school will have a range of types of planned communication with other adults – when dealing with other professionals, there will be meetings and discussions as well as more informal communication at different times. However, there are also the non-spoken forms of communication such as how quickly we respond to an email or phone message, how attentive we are when speaking to someone, how we dress. Different cultures will have their own norms of behaviour which will extend to gestures, body language and eye contact. In some cultures, for example, it is not polite

According to Dyer (2013), the most commonly violated expectations are communication, decision-making, and conflict resolution and processes. The communication is a method to deliver messages between member to member in which communicating is necessary to accomplish the task effectively and obtain desire goal. The expectation of communication is easily violated because the members could have used a delivery method that violates the expectation of the member. In the Department of Defense (DoD), personal information that includes social security number and any personal sensitive information must be transmitted via encrypted message when sending the information electronically in accordance with 32 CFR 806b.29 (U.S. Government Publishing Office, 2013, p. 45). All members of the DoD expect the personal information be transmitted via encrypted message; however, the violation mostly occurs unintentionally. Thus, the sender who sent the personal sensitive information via unencrypted email has violated the expectation of the receiver and the sender has violated

Lastly is Public distance, which is 10 feet and beyond. The Public distance can be described as the public distance, giving you plenty of space between the message sender and receiver. In this distance, effective communicators adjust their nonverbal behavior to conform to the communicative rules of their

Interpersonal communication is a multidimensional relational vehicle used to promote shared understanding, build community engagement, problem solve collectively, influence decision making, and develop a realization of self-awareness. It is a fundamental element deeply embedded in the social construct of our existence and is defined as part of the interactive process by which information, feelings and thoughts are exchanged between individuals. This exchange of information is inescapable as we are constantly involved in transmitting and interpreting verbal and non-verbal cues between each other simultaneously every day. Even in our perceived exhibition of momentary objective silence, we are still communicating through non-verbal expressions.

“Expectancy violations exert significance on people’s interaction patterns, on their impressions of one another, and on the outcomes of their interactions” (Burgoon 1993:40). In other words, Judee Burgoon, founder of the expectancy violation theory, concluded from various experiments that people evaluate communication with others in a negative or positive regard, based on their expectation of the interaction and their opinion of the communicator. When people do not act in accordance with ones expectations, one resorts to evaluating their communication behavior, be it verbal or non verbal as well as how this behavior makes one feel. The following essay will further explore and explain the

Any communication interaction involves two major components in terms of how people are perceived: verbal, or what words are spoken and nonverbal, the cues such as facial expressions, posture, verbal intonations, and other body gestures. Many people believe it is their words that convey the primary messages but it is really their nonverbal cues. The hypothesis for this research paper was: facial expressions directly impact how a person is perceived. A brief literature search confirmed this hypothesis.

Scholars attribute that communication phenomenon involves the exchange of information from a communicator to the recipient. The exchange requires a contextual understanding of the message between the recipient and communicator. The message is usually encoded in the means of communication and has to be decoded by the recipient to understand. Subsequently, a phenomenon that is located in an interaction-oriented by a speaker to a recipient can be deemed as a communication phenomenon (Goldhaber,20). A common question that communication phenomenon scholars ask is that, how do people communicate? People communicate through talking and behavioral bodily gestures accompanying that talk. Talking is thus regarded as the primary

Throughout the semester, we have studied numerous communication theories. Their purpose is to help understand exactly what happens when we interact with others. We might not necessarily agree with all of the theories, but the idea is to develop tools to evaluate situations we may encounter. Often, when the theories are explained in the readings or lecture, it is beneficial to apply the concepts to a "real life" situation. Using this approach, I will use a situation that many of us have faced, or will face, and analyze it according to a particular communication theory.

When communicators exhibit associative behaviors, they are utilizing verbal and nonverbal tactics that adapt to their conversational partner. Higher social status or power and commonalities between the individuals may explain why they are willing to do so. In attempt to demonstrate associative behavior, these individuals will partake in accommodation. According to the Communication Accommodation Theory, the interactants converge either upward or downward, unimodal or multimodal, or symmetrical or asymmetrical in order to adapt to the conversational setting (Zhang & Imamura, 2017). For instance, adults would speak slowly and use simple vocabulary when talking with children. In A Class Divided, the teacher would converge downward for her third-grade students to understand the concepts.

Communication should be clear, concise, and succinct to avoid any room for misinterpretation; Negative nonverbal cues such as, facial expressions, hand gestures, and body language, could discredit the person-to-person conversation. Communication scholars argue that one should not assume that more communication is equated with better communication (Keyton, 2013, p. 154), especially with the added use of nonverbal cues. It is understood that interpersonal communication is important, but whether it changes the landscape of a business for the better is another question, altogether. There are both formal and informal communications in the workplace; Formal, dealing with work decisions and the latter, dealing with friendships and non-work-related banter.