Expectancy Violation Theory EVT Laws Theory according to Social Scientist Studies the consequences that arise when spatial distances between people are violated 1 History a Judee Burgoon 1978 i A Communication Model of Personal Space Violations Explication and an Initial Test Human Communication Research b Nonverbal Expectancy Violation Theory Old name for the theory c Refer to Seinfeld s Close Talker video clip a To Predict what happens when people s expectations for nonverbal behavior are violated in b To Explain how people create meaning when their expectations are violated 2 Goals 3 Focus conversation a Interpersonal Interactions b Proxemic Orientation Zones 4 Proxemic Research a Proxemic Zones Edward Hall i Intimate Distance 0 18 inches 1 Whispering sex etc ii Personal Space 18 inches 4 fee 1 Everyday conversations with friends and family members iii Social Space 4 feet 12 feet 1 Appropriate for conducting business transactions 2 Grocery stores library retail cocktail party iv Public Distance 12ft 1 Standing in front of audience speaking 2 You know to stand further apart b Territoriality Altman i Primary Territories Things spaces that are physically yours ii Secondary Territories Things that aren t physically yours but you act as if they are because iii Public Territories Things that do not belong to anyone they are public property you use them 1 Your college your seat in class etc 1 Beaches parties libraries 5 Assumptions a Communication nonverbal or not is driven by our expectations When behavioral expectations are not met it can be problematic b Expectations can be learned whether through cultures or fields of experiences c People make predictions about nonverbal behavior 6 Concepts a Proxemic Zones Use of personal zones spaces b Expectancy Violations Expectations for behavior that do not meet reality i Expectancies Thoughts ideas about what is appropriate in any given communication situation ii Violation Thoughts and ideas do not match with reality c Arousal Cognitive Physical Heightened awareness that something is going on and how you react physically to such awareness d Threat Threshold Tolerance to touch and other violations e Violation Valence Positive or negative affect you assign to violation through response to threat i Negative Valence Respond badly ii Positive Valence Respond well f Communicator Reward Valence How you view the communicator determines valence i More tolerant of violation if a reward is present 7 Explanation a People hold expectations about nonverbal behavior of others b Unexpected changes in conversational distance between communicators is arousing and ambiguous we do not know what to think about such changes c To reduce this arousal ambiguity we attempt to interpret meaning from the E V s i Look at the communicator d How we interpret an E V is based on how favorably the violator is perceived i High Reward Value Positively evaluate the violation ii Low Reward Value Negatively evaluation the violation e The higher the reward value of the communicator the more likely we will assign positive meaning 8 Evaluation a Clear in scope boundaries i U S culture is the boundary b Valid Can be operated in real life very useful to us c Testable Can easily make predictions about the theory d Heuristic i Theories expand to include 1 Verbal Violations 2 Emotional Communication 3 Uncertainty Reduction ii Has been applied to 1 Relational communication 2 Conversation management 3 Impression management 4 Social Influence a Midas touch research 9 Criticisms a Inadequately addresses culture b Self reports of arousal can be misleading
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