Didi Hill

September 12, 2015

CMST 352

Journal #1

Expectancy Violations Theory

Expectancy violations theory jumped out at me while reading the text. I chose this

theory because it relates to every day life very clearly. The example in the book about the

teacher and the interactions he had with the four students made it easy to understand.

Judee Burgoon created the expectancy violations theory (EVT). It is a theory about

sophisticated personal space and deals with specifically nonverbal communication. It

attempts to explain the reactions of individuals who are experiencing unexpected

behaviors of people around him/her. Though there are a ton of concepts that play into

each theory in communication, these are EVT’s core concepts— expectancy, violation

valence, and communicator reward valence.

The expectancy violations theory is very applicable to everyday life. Each person

has a set of expectations for each interaction that occurs throughout the day. When these

expectations are not met and/or exceeded, the person’s reaction can be positive or

negative. These interactions could happen on the walk to class or even with a roommate.

An example of this could be in a classroom setting. On the first day of class, you may

have the expectations of the teacher to be super boring and just go over the syllabus of

the class. When you arrive, you see that the teacher has brought cookies and printed the

syllabus on pink paper. Since this exceeded your expectations in a positive way, you may

begin to enjoy the class more and think of it in an optimistic way. On the flip side,

expectations within an interaction could be not met at all by the other person involved.

For example, on the first day of class, you predict the class and teacher to be very

enjoyable and enthusiastic. When you arrive, you quickly realize that it will not be very

enjoyable because the teacher tells everyone about how no one has ever gotten above a

“B” in the course. Your reaction to this could be to completely opt out of the course.

EVT is applicable to my life in many ways but one specific example happened

during my Public Writing class on Monday. My professor was discussing and explaining

the value of social media. A classmate then brought her phone out and very blatantly took

a picture of her. Instead of our professor getting upset, as we all must have expected, she

started posing for the pictures. This was a positive violation that occurred and changed

my opinion about this professor in a better way.

The strengths and weaknesses in EVT while trying to apply in to daily life vary. I

believe the most prevalent strength would be how often it actually happens. Whether or

not it is a small violation or a big violation, it occurs more often than not. A weakness of

this theory may be determining when it happens. I think it is difficult, especially when in

the moment, to see this theory in action. I have been able to comprehend when the

nonverbal expectations are being violated more so now that I understand the theory

better.

This theory creates insight into how others as well as yourself communicate. I

think that once you understand the theory, you can choose when and when not to violate

the other individuals’ expectations better than before. This means that it also alters the

way you may nonverbally communicate with others, causing to better understand how

your actions affect individuals. By learning how your actions affect others, this provides

advice for communicating in the future.

The expectancy violations theory explains personal space and what happens when

the expectations of people respecting personal space are violated. This theory helps gain

insight on how to effectively communicate with others as well as how to effectively react

when your expectations are violated.