Today I think is the perfect time to talk about
Expectancy Violations Theory. There were two incidents's that happened around me this week that could really help illustrate this theory. First off, expectancy is defined as
what people predict will happen in an interaction (rather than what they desire.) All of our expectations are based on relationship factors, context, and communication characteristics. All of us create communication norms which help us decide what we should and shouldn't expect. Our understanding of norms is based on expectations. When people violate expectations, we are forced to re-evaluate how to communicate. The last part of this theory is the
violation variance. This is the positive or negative we assign to any unexpected behavior, for example a random kiss from your crush (good) or a random person yelling about how Area 51 is real and you will get abducted (bad in most circles).
First Example:
I was walking out of the library when a man holding a sign saying "You deserve to go to hell" yelled at me. I was somewhat taken back but also had my ear buds in so in reality it just looked like a random guy with a sign was dancing along to "Song of the South" by Alabama. Now normally this doesn't happen to me, I can't just chalk that up to a normal Tuesday so it violated my expectations. The communication norms I had constructed had to be re-evaluated because usually I don't get yelled at by crazy people (That is saved for Thanksgiving). Here is a perfect example of a violation of expectations i.e the working of the expectancy violations theory: Enjoy!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPCjIGyrtYc
Second Example:
A girl with stilts was walking down the sidewalk I was on. I don't really know how I felt about it until she handed me three free Baja Fresh coupons. Obviously my mind was blown. I wasn't expecting to be given anything, let alone see her to begin with. There was no context for her to be there, I don't think it was 'Walk on Stilts Day' and it was definitely out of the norm. Needless to say I had a pretty good day after that. That just goes to show you that just because your expectations are violated it doesn't mean that it is necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes that violation of the norm can be just the push you need to start doing something.
First Example:
I was walking out of the library when a man holding a sign saying "You deserve to go to hell" yelled at me. I was somewhat taken back but also had my ear buds in so in reality it just looked like a random guy with a sign was dancing along to "Song of the South" by Alabama. Now normally this doesn't happen to me, I can't just chalk that up to a normal Tuesday so it violated my expectations. The communication norms I had constructed had to be re-evaluated because usually I don't get yelled at by crazy people (That is saved for Thanksgiving). Here is a perfect example of a violation of expectations i.e the working of the expectancy violations theory: Enjoy!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPCjIGyrtYc
Second Example:
A girl with stilts was walking down the sidewalk I was on. I don't really know how I felt about it until she handed me three free Baja Fresh coupons. Obviously my mind was blown. I wasn't expecting to be given anything, let alone see her to begin with. There was no context for her to be there, I don't think it was 'Walk on Stilts Day' and it was definitely out of the norm. Needless to say I had a pretty good day after that. That just goes to show you that just because your expectations are violated it doesn't mean that it is necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes that violation of the norm can be just the push you need to start doing something.
Wow, great video! I will have to use that one in class in the future. I'm picture a test in which I play the audio without the video and ask the class to describe the physical characteristics of the singer. And then show the video. What a great discussion about how our expectations are impacted by stereotypes and personal bias...
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