Expectancy Violations Theory, Slides of Theories of Communication

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Expectancy Violations Theory

Judee Burgoon

Nutshell Description

 Individuals develop expectations of other people’s behavior  Expectations can be fulfilled (normative, expected communication behaviors) or violated  EVT is interested in what happens when expectancies are violated  Variables of interest: attitude (liking, satisfaction), behavior (compliance)

 Communicators and expectancy violations both have reward valence  Positive valence: Good  Negative valence: Bad

 Communicator reward valence: sum of the positive and negative attributes that the person brings to the encounter plus the potential she/he has to reward or punish in the future  Spouse, boss, bratty kid brother, physician, etc.

Guidelines

 When a behavior has “socially recognized” and agreed upon meaning:  If valence is negative, do less than expected  If valence is positive, do more than expected  If behavior is ambiguous, communicator valence is particularly important