Expectancy Violation Theory was an idea created by Judy Burgoon believed that ‘violating expectations is a superior strategy to conformity.’ She wanted people to do something unexpected or different. She breaks it into 3 categories Expectancy, Violation Valence, and Communicator Reward Valence. Expectancy is what the watcher thinks will happen based off content, relationship, and Communicator Characteristics. Violation Valence is the perceived value of the violation itself and if it is a positive violation or a negative violation. Next is Communicator Reward valence which concludes if there is anything for them to gain if they violate your expectancy and if they will have a risk or reward when violating. One of the biggest plot twist in the beginning of the show is when we find out that Allison is alive after being gone for almost two years. It was a shock and a change in the show when they brought her back her back, but I think it was a positive violation. The expectancy was if the audience thought Allison was alive or not. The girls had ‘dreams’ they thought …show more content…
The first 6 seasons were all about an ‘A’ person who was threatening and bulling the girls, and once they found out who this person was, 5 years later, there is now an ‘AD’. Although it felt like the show was dragging on, they were able to drag it our for two more seasons. The expectancy was who could A.D be, and at that point in the show it could be anyone. The violation valence was positive because it was a big shock, especially since we didn’t know this character existed, but it was also a negative because they last ‘A’ was a twin of one of the girl’s brothers, so of course they would make it someone’s long lost twin. I think this was also a risk and a reward because it was the end of the show, so they couldn’t lose viewers, but also risking people to be disappointed with the