Transcript Expectancy Violations Theory

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)
Key Ideas
 An expectancy is something that is
predicted to occur.
 Expectancies are based on
context/cultural norms, relationship
factors, and communicator characteristics
 All cultures have a structure of expected
communication behaviors, but the content
can differ significantly
 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.
 Violation valence: perceived value of a
breach of expectations
 Some violations are clearly negative or
positive (although dependent on context
and culture!); first date: flowers/candy
versus being late
 Some violations are equivocal; touch
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