EVT or Expectancy Violations Theory, as Judee Burgoon puts it, is the reaction of the person upon the invasion of personal space (the preferred distance from others).
There are three concepts in this theory. Let me start with, expectancy. It is our own set of guidelines or rules in which we follow. We have our own preferred distance from other people when we communicate. Next is violation valence. It's simply the total violation a person has made to your personal space. Last but not the least is the communicator reward valence, which sums up our benefits from the conversation. These benefits, however, are not all
positive.
Example:
Marla is a modern lady from France, and Daniela is your traditional "Maria Clara" from the Philippines. Carrie introduced Maria to Daniela and vice-versa. They talk about France: it's culture, it's language, and it's people. They also talk about the Philippines, with the same subtopics. After a few exchange of words, Marla has to go. So she kisses Daniela on both sides of her cheeks. Being the Maria Clara, she was shocked by the gesture. Why? Simply because, we Filipinos (or, let's say the traditional ones) aren't used to the Western way of greeting. Just like the Japanese, when they greet or bid farewell, they don't kiss each other's cheeks, instead they bow their heads as a sign of respect. This clearly shows us that Marla has violated the personal space of Daniela, since her gesture is not part of Daniela's social norms. Culture difference is a gateway for a lot of violations of rights since we really don't know what other people from different cultures are used to. :)
Labels: coma101 |
posted by Unknown at 
