Affectionate behavior in adult platonic friendships - Interpreting and evaluating expectancy violations

Affection is a central component of communicative processes in close person al relationships. Despite its importance, however, individuals expressing a ffection can incur a number of interpersonal risks, especially in nonromant ic relationships where opportunities for misattribution on the part of the recipient may be high. Therefore, it is important to understand individuals ' expectations for the kind and intensity of affectionate behavior they ant icipate in their personal relationships. Although extant research has ident ified a number of influences on expectancies for affection, this study exte nds existing knowledge by examining how individuals react to expectancy-vio lating changes in affectionate behavior. An experiment involving 40 pairs o f adult platonic friends revealed that unexpected changes in affectionate i nvolvement produce changes in cognitive assessments and behavioral reaction s on the part oft he recipient, and that violative situations are different ially valenced according to the direction of change in affectionate involve ment. These findings ave interpreted as support for the tenets of expectanc y violations theory.