Structural Harmony (State of the System)

       The balance and coherence of the person’s current psychological state and goal structure will also moderate whether a goal expectancy violation will cause a disruption. Borrowing from the work of Lipman-Bluman (1973), a person’s goal structure is proposed to have varying degrees of structural soundness or integrity. This can also be considered in line with Lovinger’s (1976) considerations of ego, Antonovsky’s sense of coherence (1987), as well as variables such as stability of self (Rosenberg, 1989). If a violation occurs to someone who is already disrupted or experiencing general state anxiety (Kohli, Batra, & Aggarwal, 2011), the impact of the violation will likely be magnified. The length of time since the most recent disruption, past neglect or abuse (Harkness & Lumley, 2007), and spirituality (Young, Cashwell, & Shcherbakova, 2000) are also expected to play a role in an individual's mental soundness.