Expectancy Violation Theory In Communication

How often do you take an elevator to get to your destination? In looking at a typical week, I use elevators at a minimum thirty times. During each elevator ride, I adhere to a set of rules governing elevator etiquette. These rules, based on common sense, were not presented to me in written form, but were learned over time through communicating with others. Some of the more common elevator rules include waiting for passengers to exit prior to boarding, holding the door for someone who is just seconds away, not talking on cell phones, keeping personal information to yourself, and, as much as possible, allowing others around you

Communication theories are important to learn and understand. Learning these theories helps us apply the theory to our own life. It helps our critical thinking skills as well as benefits one to understand the value of research that has been accomplished in this field. Understanding communication theories can help us make sense of our daily life experiences. There are three Communication theories that I have studied that have touched on my personal and professional life. These theories are Communication Privacy Management, Social Penetration Theory, and Organizational Culture Theory.

Violating a norm, in society today, can make some people look at you incredibly differently from what is normal. Depending on the norm that is disrupted, some people make react differently than perhaps someone with different views. I decided to experiment with breaking the norm of conversational distance. “Social Distance” has separate zones that are a general rule of a conversation based on how well a person knows the people they are talking to. While defying the norm of social distance, I received two different reactions due to the difference in people I attempted it with. Disturbing a social norm can either make people uncomfortable or act okay with it, depending on different variables.

Moreover, the basis of a relationships lies on the principle that it is a shared give and take between two people. Yet, what happens in a society that has slowly eradicated a person’s ability to question their surroundings and communication has been dumbed down to surface level discussions?

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,

Humans act toward people, things, and events on the basis of the meanings they assign to them. Once people define a situation as real, it has very real consequences. Without language there would be no thought, no sense of self, and no socializing presence of society within the individual. (Socio-cultural tradition)

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

Social Penetration theory attempts to explain the differences in communication in relation to the depth of interpersonal relationships. “Irwin Altman and Dallas Taylor, the theory states that relationships begin and deepen through self-disclosure. In the beginning, people establish

Just as self concept seemed a vicious circle, where this affects that and that effects this; relational development is the same. Relational development can alter our lives and our communication, while communication issues can alter our relational development and our lives. The relational perspective is a pragmatic one and focuses on the continuance of communication processes through relationships. (Rogers, 2004.) Relationships go through a series of stages. The initial and first encounter to a relationship is called the initiating stage. While in this stage, two people attempt to create favorably impressionable first impressions. In this stage you will look for cues about the other person’s personality, attitude, beliefs, and values so that you can progress the relationship. If the relationship continues and impressions are favorable than the two people move to the second stage, also known as the experimenting stage. In this stage people reveal themselves further but not completely since the stage is still a precarious one. If a common ground and understanding of each other is obtained then the relationship moves to the next stage, the intensifying stage. In this stage shared experiences becomes common and self disclosure is open. The next stage is the integrating stage, this is where the individuals usually become a couple. They have shared interests and attitudes, and sometimes talk or act alike. The other individual becomes like your other half. If things go awry than relationships often shift to the circumscribing stage. This is when couples start to self disclose less and less to the other person. Then comes the stagnating stage. At this point there is no communication and no activity between the two people. Sometimes there is an

The second half of the relational model is called the “coming apart” stages, which consists of: differentiating, circumscribing, stagnating, avoiding, and lastly terminating. During the differentiating stage the relationship will start to be more individual, it will start to fade and the bond will be broken. After that comes the circumscribing stage during which the individuals won’t communicate because of the fear of starting an argument. The stage where relationships never improve or continue is called stagnating. After this point the individuals enter the avoiding stage, where the avoid any physical contact

Many people formed this personal space by placing luggage around them, extending a body part, or using a companion to consume space. Most people stood at least a half an arm’s distance away from each other, but if this distance felt threatened people were sure to express nonverbal and sometime verbal behaviors.

Theory explains why as relationships develop, communication moves from less intimate levels to more intimate, more personal levels.

Everyone goes through situations in which they form new relationships with people they previously did not know. For example, when a student moves onto a college campus for his or her freshman year, the student will have to go through the process of making new friends and getting to know his or her roommate. The social penetration theory of communication explains how new relationships form and the levels a relationship must go through before it can be described as being friends.

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.

Proximity can be defined as nearness in space, time, or relationship. There are many terms and or phrases used to describe proximity such as personal space, soul space, bubble, comfort zone, too close for comfort, grill, invasion of privacy, etc. In this assignment we were asked to invade a stranger’s personal space and record their reaction to this event. I went to a neighborhood Starbucks and proceeded to invade the personal space of a stranger sitting at a table with his laptop. I also tried talking within close proximity of someone just to see their reaction, but the results of the Starbucks experiment brought about greater output. After church on Sunday, November 22, 2015 at 2:16pm I walked into the Starbucks located at 1830 N Federal Hwy, Boca Raton, FL 33432. I walked up to the counter and ordered a triple shot of espresso with 3 raw sugars, and a tall cup of ice with splash of soy milk. Once I received my order I walked to the condiments table near the door and began to mix my drink. I stirred the sugar into the espresso and then poured it over the cup of iced soy milk. There was a man who appeared to be of Caucasian decent sitting alone at one of the tables, he was on his laptop with his cup next to him and a notebook. He was so wrapped up in his work that he didn’t even notice me walking up. I pulled out the chair next to him and sat down. Prior to myself sitting down I privately hypothesized that it would take this man a couple seconds to realize what was going