Expectancy Violation And Self-Esteem

Long-term relationships are especially important to the growth and development of human being’s maturity and understanding of the world. With those relationships, there are numerous preconceived societal norms from the constitutive culture in which one grows up. American culture creates expectations of how one’s partner is expected to act. In American culture, one is expected to grow up, go to college, get married and start a family, living out that life monogamously. Yet according to statistics it is relatively common for individuals to have those expectations shattered at some point during their adult life through the disruption of social norms by a partner who commits infidelity. Statistically, 75% of male and 68% of female college students …show more content…
With the prevalence of infidelity in society, despite its frowned upon nature, expectations are violated making the subject reasonable to observe through an Expectancy Violations Theory lens. When couples stay together, despite relational transgressions it is often baffling to those around them which can lead to cognitive dissonance within the couple’s group of friends. In order to explain this perceived expectancy violation, investment model theory may prove eligible. This paper dedicates itself to the literature review of such relational transgressions in two forms: those in monogamous long-term relationships that have survived, and those monogamous dyads that have terminated their commitment due to relational transgressions, articulated through the lens of Expectancy Violations Theory (EVT) in combination with Investment Model Theory …show more content…
It is arguable that an individual with a high investment in their relationship will be more likely to stay with their partner because they perceive themselves as having more to lose. “The investment model conceptualizes relationship commitment as including four components: satisfaction level, quality of alternatives, investment size, and commitment level” (Rusbult, Martz, & Agnew, 1998)(Weiser & Weigal, p. 421). “Satisfaction Level” is defined as how fulfilled an individual feels within a relationship. “Quality of Alternatives” refers to how many individuals a subject believes are interested in their goods. “Investment Size” refers to how much effort has already been placed into a relationship, and “Commitment Level” is often reflective of that investment. IM posits that the more investment an individual has in a relationship correlates to commitment, so long as quality of alternatives remains low, and satisfaction level remains