Expectancy Violation Theory

Expectancy Violation Theory So a man walks into a bar. He orders a drink from the bartender, some Jack on the rocks. The bartender comes back with a guy sitting on a pile of rocks. The man refuses to pay the tab, and instead leaves the bar. This joke, as terrible as it is, is an amazing example of the Expectancy Violations Theory or EVT for short. This joke symbolizes EVT through the fact that the man expected a certain kind of drink, and instead got something else, because of this his response is to not pay. EVT is simply described as people have expectations for each other, and when someone violate those expectations people will respond either negatively or positively. There are many concepts that have to deal with EVT, including expectancy, violation valence, and communicator reward valence (Griffin, Ledbetter, Sparks). Expectancy is “what is predicted and not what is desired” (Griffin, Ledbetter, Sparks) According to Judee K.

This is my violation valence. As a result I will add up the rest of my other grades, and assuming those are also bad I will probably freak out. This is my Communicator Reward Valence. The reason why I like this theory is that it is so applicable to everyday life. This theory does not only require meeting new people nor does it apply to just only people with built relationships. It also applies in almost every situation. Every time someone communicates with someone else, this theory is used. There is the dilemma of the occasional unpredictability of an individual, which brings up a question that I have, If one were to put into consideration all factors that could play a role into someones communicator reward valence could someone truly be able to predict what they would think? Another question I have is that can children think of this? As adults we gain knowledge and understanding through previous communication with other adults, but what about children who have less