Expectancy Violations Theory: Bond's at it again!

Ever been in an awkward situation? Whether the outcome was positive or negative chances are you and the rest of the world have.  These situations are caused by the theory that is “Expectancy Violations Theory”.  Based on social norms, we expect certain situations to play out relative to those norms that we are accustomed to.  For instance, communication follows an easy predictive pattern when people act in the manner that we would expect, but when people violate these/our expectations we are forced to re-evaluate how to communicate in that given situation.  These expectations however, that are based off of social norms, are dependent upon context, relationship factors, and communicating characteristics like saying hello. 

To help demonstrate with “Expectancy Violations Theory” here’s a very comical clip of a conversation between Bond and his nemesis Bardem in the movie Skyfall.

Notice how Bardem (Bond’s antagonist) violates Bond’s expectations soon after they meet face to face, Bardem becomes extremely touchy for a bad guy in a Bond movie, forcing Bond to re-evaluate how to communicate (body-language included).  Stereotypically, bad guys usually keep their distance from Bond unless they have a weapon of some sort.  However, the most telling depiction of the “Expectancy Violations Theory” in this clip, and my favorite part, is when Bond gets a rise out of Bardem with his own demonstration at (1:15) which certainly is a positive reaction, or value, placed upon Bond’s intentional and unexpected remark. Awkward situation? I think not!