Presented at the 111th Annual Convention of the National Communication Association (Scholar-to-Scholar session), this project introduces the Holistic EVT–PIT Framework, an integration of Expectancy Violations Theory (EVT) and Problematic Integration Theory (PIT).
The framework re-specifies EVT’s evaluative mechanism by replacing the traditional violation-valence with PIT’s interpretive model of Integration and Problematic Integration. This revision moves beyond a binary “positive or negative” evaluation, positioning meaning-making, uncertainty, and emotion as the central processes through which communicative outcomes are understood and reproduced.
By situating EVT’s predictive logic within PIT’s interpretive system, the model operationalizes structuration at the interpersonal level. It shows that communication is not only the medium through which expectations are expressed but also the outcome that can reproduce, resolve, or generate new expectations and interpretations.
Drawing on attorney–client interaction as an applied example, the framework demonstrates how clear and ethical communication can still yield unmet expectations, tension, or recursive meaning-making that shapes organizational reputation. The poster summarizes this conceptual model, and the accompanying report details its development and implications for strategic and organizational communication.
The Holistic EVT-PIT Framework by Allyson L. Wilson
Scholar-to-Scholar Poster Presentation NCA 2025
When Desires Collide with Reality:
Communication Illuminates the Complexity of Expectation in Legal Contexts
by Allyson L. Wilson
This report provides the theoretical foundation for the NCA 2025 presentation When Desires Collide With Reality: Communication Illuminates the Complexity of Expectation in Legal Contexts. It details the development of a model that re-specifies Expectancy Violations Theory (EVT) by incorporating Problematic Integration Theory (PIT) as the mechanism for interpretation and evaluation.
The report explains how this revision replaces EVT’s binary violation-valence step with PIT’s dynamic process of integration and tension, making the recursive, structurational nature of communication visible at the interpersonal level. It positions communication as both medium and outcome; an ongoing system through which expectations, desires, and interpretations evolve.
Drawing on attorney–client interaction as an applied context, the report demonstrates how everyday meaning-making can reproduce, resolve, or generate new expectancies and orientations.