Expectancy violations theory (EVT) is a communication theory that examine how individuals respond to unforeseen violations of social norms and expectations. This theory puts an emphasis on individual perception of an interaction for any given social situation. When an individual is in the process of communication, they will form an presumption of how the other party will react. Violation to this presumption can in turn lead to a reaction that will either be positive or negative. We can assume that people will behave in different manners based on their socioeconomic status, beliefs, morals, and cultural values, so one’s perceived reaction may not be the actual one because of those life influences.
Describing Concepts/Relationships …show more content…
EVT plays a large role in this to see when these expectations are being violated in a negative way and when these violations are more positive.- It has been said that oftentimes, partners experience tension over issues relating to cell phones.- We are living in a world where we are “creating continuous partial attention” (Barron, 2008), in that our connected presence becomes almost a prediction that we are constantly available. -This issue of “divided attention”, is hindering our ability to truly get to know someone because there is always a piece of us that has some focus on our cell phones (Kelly and Miller-Ott, 2014).- The purpose of this study was to try to understand how partners deal with cell phones being there when they are spending time with their significant other. Another thing they are looking at is the expectations partners have in relation to cell phone usage in a more romantic context and how they are able to respond and keep up with these expectancy violations with each other. Since relationships are completely different when they are at different stages, they focused their research on people’s expectations during the beginning of their relationship to when the relationship is more established:
RQ1: What expectations do romantic partners have regarding cell phone use in the first-date context and how do they respond to and manage