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Expectancy Violations Theory as seen in the movie Anger Management
Expectancy Violations Theory can be easily recognized in a lot of everyday
interactions in life just because everyone constantly communicates nonverbally and
we all have expectations about what certain nonverbal communication means. I
chose to apply this theory to a movie, Anger Management, which I watched recently
and has multiple episodes of Expectancy Violations Theory in it.
This theory was constructed to explain how nonverbal communication affects
messages in a conversation. This Adam Sandler, slap-stick comedy, has constant
nonverbal cues and nonverbal communication completely violating a conservative
persons expectations of what that nonverbal cue would mean. Throughout the
movie my overwhelming feeling was anxiety and nervousness because nothing fit
my expectations; each scene was full of violations of what I typically associated
with certain nonverbal communication. Jack Nicholson, as Dr. Buddy Rydell, is the
king of facial emotional cues and his character was designed to prove this
Expectancy Violations Theory.
Judee Burgoon developed Expectancy Violations Theory in 1978. Quoting
from our Communications Theory book, Burgoon contends that unexpected changes
in conversational distance between communicators are arousing and frequently
ambiguous. Interpreting the meaning behind an expectancy violation depends on
how favorably the violator is perceived. Burgoons theory grew from Edward Halls
claims that there are proxiemic zones, intimate, personal, social and public
distances. In this movie, Sandler and Nicholsons interactions were examples in my
mind of the three assumptions that Burgoon made with her theory; that

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expectancies drive human interaction, that expectancies for human behavior are
learned and that people make predictions about nonverbal behavior.
There were multiple scenes where Jack Nicholson as Dr. Buddy Rydell gave
nonverbal and verbal cues that were intended to completely mess with the mind of
Dave Buznik, played by Adam Sandler. Three scenes that stuck out to me as
supporting this expectancy violation theory were on the airplane when Adam is
accused of Anger Management Issues, in his first anger management class, and in
his apartment when Jack Nicholson moves in to be his coach.
One the plane Adam, who is an inhibited damaged man with issues of
demonstrating affection because of a childhood prank that scarred him for life, is
sat next to Jack Nicholson whose every move is intended to make Adam
uncomfortable. He moves in too close, he laughs uproariously at a movie that only
he can hear and see, and he accuses Adam of be rude to the stewardess and to
him. He violates Adams expectations of normal communication at every turn.
When Adam has to go to the Anger Management Class, he doesnt know how
to handle the conflicting emotions and craziness demonstrated by the hugely
mixed-up class of misfits who have been hired to also mess with Adams mind to
make him finally blow his top and get angry since he seems incapable of it. There
are cross dressers, jealous lesbians, a man on steroids, and several other people
ready to explode in anger at his least words. His expectations of normal human
communications are again violated and he is lost.
Finally in his own apartment with Jack Nicholson as the doctor, Jack starts
throwing things, yelling, crawls in his own bed with him and starts farting and
snuggling. Adams is so violated and finally ends up starting to have normal angry

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reactions to the ridiculous verbal and nonverbal communications the good doctor is
submitting his broken emotions and mind to.
The director of the movie is Peter Segal and I imagine he understands all the
theories we have been learning about far better than I do. I think the film was just
to entertain and Im not sure what his message was except to make comic relief
with 2 very amazing actors. The discomfort I felt at all the violations made my
husband laugh hysterically.
I relate to this theory and remember often feeling the discomfort and
uncertainty of new situations and knowing how to handle how other people
communicated and wondering what they intended and what they meant and how I
was supposed to act. I feel like I have grown hugely in my ability to communicate
just since Ive been employed in a large school district with such a variety of
coworkers.
Temper is the one thing you cant get rid of by losing it. This is a great
quote from Dr. Rydell, spoken in a condescending fatherly tone as he has just
pushed David to the breaking point before David completely loses all control of his
anger and finally takes Rydell out.

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Anger Management, Feel the Love 2003 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0305224/
Communication Theory, Fourth Edition, R. West/L.Turner Chapter 8, Expectancy
Violations Theory pg. 128-134