A Phenomenological Approach to Expectancy Violation in Social Anxiety Disorder

Expectancy refers to what an individual anticipates will happen in a given situation. Usually, one forms expectations for social interactions by drawing on social norms and past interactions or observations of others. The expectations of those with a social anxiety disorder, however, can be off-kilter, with social expectations that are unrealistically negative. Expectancy violation theory (EVT) suggests that disrupting the negative expectations of those with social anxiety disorder can trigger new learning regarding social expectations. This paper uses a phenomenological approach to reveal the complex dimensions of subverting expectations. By drawing on phenomenological concepts, we can understand expectancy violation as a dislocation of the way the world is expected to unfold. As such, we argue that interventions that subvert expectation can act as a catalyst for embodied learning for those with social anxiety disorder, in the form of disrupting habitual patterns of embodiment. Through this paper, we respond to recent calls to set aside cognitive-behavioral therapy and its components in favor of embodied approaches to understanding and treating social anxiety disorder; we posit that expectancy violation already has an embodied effect that future interventions ought to maximize.