This Christmas…

I asked Santa to give me a perfect little present. I asked him to kiss me in my cheek as he leaves our humble home. I also asked Santa for a bag with a house in it, and inside the house ,a boyfriend that awaits for my arrival. I believed in Santa for years and he has never let me down. But, this Christmas was different. WAY DIFFERENT. I was so excited to open my presents that morning. I can’t wait to see what Santa gave me. But as I search under our Christmas tree, I found nothing. NADA! I lost hope. ALL MY EXPECTATIONS WERE DOWN THE DRAIN. Santa has let me down. Char lang! XD

Judee Burgoon, a communication scholar, introduced the Expectancy Violations Theory. EVT is a theory that somehow explains how we react or respond to any message conveyed to us when our personal space is being invaded. She describes personal space as an "invisible, variable volume of space surrounding an individual that defines the individual’s preferred distance from others.” (EM Griffin, pg. 84). When this invisible boundary is violated, their expectancy can also be violated. If you cross the space of person, he can have two reactions—either positive or negative. This theory has three core concepts, namely; expectancy, violation violence and communicator reward valence. I shall explain these core concepts briefly.

Expectancy. From the word itself, we have a picture of something that should be followed or like rules. We expect different things from others or from the one we are communicating with. Then these expectations can affect our response. In example, during a Christmas party, you met a new friend. Now this person is so near your face that you could actually see his pores. I bet you would feel invaded or very uncomfortable. But if the person you were talking to was your boyfriend or someone special, you would not mind if he is too near, or you might even like it.

Violation Valence. I bet we all heard the word valence. We encountered this word in our Chemistry classes. But Judee Burgoon gives it a little twist. Violation valence is the summation of all the violation that a person does to you during your communication. Going back to my example, the first person violated your space and some other personal things. so overall, this person has created a bad impression to you and you don’t like to keep in touch with him and just forget the awful conversation you had. But if your boyfriend or special someone did some violations during your conversations, you might even look at it as a positive thing and you might mind. You’d look forward in meeting again and catching things up.

Communicator Reward Valence. This last core concept talks about the benefit that the communicator gets after the conversation and its impact on their future meetings and talks.

Like all of us, this theory though has its flaws but the author tries to improve it. That’s why it still a theory.

So that’s about it! That’s how I understood EVT.