Cultural Shock Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Cultural Shock - Research Paper Example Social norms and communication characteristics are the basic element of the expectancy violation theory. Expectancy Violation Theory sees communication as the medium through which people exchange information with one another. Communication can also be used to violate the expectations of another person as either negative or positive depending upon the link between the two people. However, experts also explain this theory as in communicating with others; people generally have an expectation of the way the other person will react verbally or non-verbally. The Expectancy Violation Theory assesses the way in which we react to someone’s non-verbal behavior (Kunda and Thagard, 1996). Cultural shock is when people or a person enters into a new culture when they migrate to a new place or experience new people around them. The difficulty they have in adjusting in that culture and amongst the people is known as cultural shock. Expectancy Violation Theory closely related to cultural shock as the people who are new to the society will face difficulties in keeping expectations from the people as to what their reaction will be. As the behaviors are new, there will be vague predictions about the expectations of the people on the communications made whether verbal or non-verbal (Burgoon, 1993). When having a communication with someone’s, the reaction of the person can either be positive or negative, which means that either the person will smile or will show a rude reaction (Marques, 1990). The theory examines that the people carry expectations when they interact with others and these expectations are from the culture or the individuals in that culture. They make predictions about the non-verbal communications, and there are times when their expectations violate (Jussim et al, 1987). Personal space refers to a space that has to be maintained while interacting