Chapter 22 Further Reading: Silence, Space, and Absence

Foundational Works

Burgoon, J. K. (1993). Interpersonal expectations, expectancy violations, and emotional communication. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 12(1–2), 30–48. The key paper laying out Expectancy Violation Theory as applied to interpersonal communication. Essential background for understanding why silence in expected-communication contexts has such interpretive power.

Argyle, M., & Dean, J. (1965). Eye-contact, distance and affiliation. Sociometry, 28(3), 289–304. The original paper introducing the Intimacy Equilibrium Model. Foundational for understanding how physical space and other channels interact in interpersonal closeness.

Hall, E. T. (1976). Beyond Culture. Anchor Books. Hall's development of the high-context/low-context communication framework, which underlies the Okafor-Reyes Study's interpretive debate. Important background, with the caveat that it is dated and has faced significant methodological criticism.

Key Empirical Studies

LeFebvre, L. E. (2019). Ghosting as a relationship dissolution strategy in the technological age. In The Emerald Handbook of Computer-Mediated Communication and Social Media. Emerald Publishing. The most systematic qualitative and quantitative study of ghosting motivations and outcomes. Provides the empirical base for much of Section 22.9 and Case Study 22.1.

Sprecher, S., Treger, S., & Wondra, J. D. (2013). Effects of self-disclosure role on liking, closeness, and other impressions in a stranger interaction. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 30(4), 497–514. While focused on self-disclosure, Sprecher's work on dyadic closeness mechanisms is relevant for understanding the absence-of-disclosure dynamic that ghosting and breadcrumbing create.

Jonason, P. K., & Li, N. P. (2013). Playing hard-to-get: Manipulating one's perceived availability as a mate. European Journal of Personality, 27(5), 458–469. The meta-analytic review of hard-to-get research. Provides the empirical base for Case Study 22.2's conclusion that the strategy's attraction effects are real but accompanied by consistent costs.

On Ghosting and Digital Communication

Freedman, G., Powell, D. N., Le, B., & Williams, K. D. (2019). Ghosting and destiny: Implicit theories of relationships predict beliefs about ghosting. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 36(3), 905–924. Examines individual differences in responses to ghosting, including how implicit theories of relationships (destiny vs. growth) shape interpretation.

Broader Context

Zeigarnik, B. (1938). On finished and unfinished tasks. In W. D. Ellis (Ed.), A source book of Gestalt psychology (pp. 300–314). Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Company. The original source for the Zeigarnik effect — brief but historically important. The 1938 English translation is the most accessible version for students.

Brehm, J. W. (1966). A Theory of Psychological Reactance. Academic Press. Foundational for the reactance account of playing-hard-to-get and absence-as-desire-inducer effects.

For the Curious

Tannen, D. (1990). You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. William Morrow. Tannen's accessible examination of conversational style differences, including different relationships to silence, hedging, and conversational overlap across gender lines. Dated in its binary framing but still readable as a starting point for thinking about how silence and speech norms vary.