Expectancy Violations Theory

An example of Expectancy Violations Theory that I have observed is the interaction between Uncle Jerry and Rob on a recent episode of the MTV show “Rob and Big.” In the episode Rob and Big go to Mississippi to visit Big Black’s family. When Rob meets Big’s uncle Jerry he seems normal at first but as the episode progresses Jerry develops a very low Communicator Reward Valence. He does this by gradually getting closer and closer to Rob to the point where Rob has to tell him that he is too close. Jerry’s behavior may have been normal for him, but Rob, who had never met him before was obviously expecting him to act differently. Jerry also failed to meet Rob’s expectations in the way he talked. Jerry continually repeated himself and it made Rob uncomfortable.
The funny thing about this situation is that Jerry acted the same way when he was interacting with both Rob and Big Black, the only difference is that Big was expecting it because he knew his uncle and knew how he was going to act. Rob, who had no idea Jerry was like this, was uncomfortable and was constantly trying to avoid the uncomfortable situations with Jerry.