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First impressions are terribly awkward, but unfortunately, they’re terribly important. There’s a lot on a person’s mind when meeting someone new: we form gestalts (initial impressions that are positive or negative) and we assign attributions, but above everything else, the first thing we try to do is collect information about the person we are meeting for the first time so that their communication can become predicable and explainable. This is called the Uncertainty Reduction Theory. Basically, if you know more about a person and how they communicate, it’s easier to talk to them and you’re more likely to find them likable. There are three different ways that people go about this: using passive strategies, active strategies, and interactive strategies. Interactive strategies are the most effective. They involve asking the person you are interested in getting to know direct questions about themselves. Less effective than that are active strategies. This is where you ask other people about the person to try and find out more about them. The final and least effective form of uncertainty reduction is through passive strategies. Passive strategies include things like watching how they interact with others, facebook stalking them, or even looking up their file in the FBI database. This is exactly what Fox Mulder does when Dana Scully is assigned to be his new partner on the X Files. In season 1 episode 1 of the X Files, Mulder and Scully meet for the first time. In the clip below, you can see how Mulder used Passive strategies to learn basic information about Scully to prepare for meeting her. This strategy comes off very awkward in application because Mulder ends up spewing off a list of facts about Scully without really knowing anything about her. Unfortunately, Scully isn't much better at first impressions. Upon entering Mulder's office, Scully surveys the room and takes into account all of the artifacts such as posters and papers to try and get an understanding of who Mulder is rather than asking him questions about himself. Take a look:

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The X Files - Scully and Mulder first scene

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I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THIS!!! THE X FILES BELONGS TO FOX!!!! THIS VIDEO IS PURELY FAN MADE! NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT OR ANYTHING INTENDED!!!!

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Very quickly, Mulder and Scully move away from their initial impressions of each other and while they discover that they have very opposing views on the X Files cases (Scully believes in science and religion while Mulder is more open to stranger explanations), they become closer and closer as the series progresses. The two of them become a 'dynamic- duo' if you will and the Social Exchange Theory explains why they work so well together. By definition, the social exchange theory proposes that you will be drawn to someone who you perceive as having substantial benefits with few drawbacks. For Mulder, Scully is someone who legitimizes his work on the X files. He sees that outcome as beneficial, thus he and Scully become close. Even more relevant to the social exchange theory than his relationship with Scully, is Mulder's relationship with 'inside men' and informants. In season 1 of the show, Mulder often has meeting with a man who goes by the code name Deep Throat. Deep Throat often tells Mulder of the secrets the government is keeping from the public and offers important insights and leads on many of the X Files cases.  Mulder is drawn to this man because of the information he can provide, even when he is telling lies or putting Mulder's life in danger. The clip below is one example of their meeting:

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X-Files Deep Throat finale at the stadium

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Uploaded by Grzegorz Juraszek on 2013-10-05.

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As Mulder and Scully's relationship develops, they begin to think of each other as family. And like all families, they struggle with communication. The Family Communications Patterns Theory explains that there are two factors that influence how a family communicates: conversation orientation and conformity orientation. Conversation orientation is how open a family is to communication. If they talk all the time, they have a high conversation orientation, but if they don't speak to each other, the orientation is low. Mulder and Scully have a high conversation orientation. They are constantly discussing different issues or making plans and talking with one another. The other aspect of family communication is the conformity orientation, or how much a family tries to agree with one another to have similar views. A family with high conformity orientation would be more likely to ignore their actual view and constantly agree with one another. Mulder and Scully demonstrate the opposite and have a low conformity orientation. They both have very different bases of belief on the X files cases: Mulder believes that Aliens are the cause of many of the mysteries while Scully insists there is an explanation in science. They very regularly debate and argue these type of topics like in the scene below from season 6, episode 19:

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FUnny scene where Scully and Mulder argue over a "dreamsickle" and at the end she says rebel!

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Just like how with the Uncertainty Reduction theory our brains try to make sense of other people's communication, our brains try to make sense of another persons feelings, beliefs, and actions through the Attribution theory. Attributions are the explanations we give to other people's behaviors. They answer why people do what they do. There are two types of attributions that can be made: internal attributions and external attributions. Internal attributions are when you explain a persons actions based on their internal thoughts and feelings. External attribution is when you blame an outside event and not the person. These are the snap judgments we make about people and they're often wrong because of the fundamental attribution error of wrongly attributing others behaviors on only internal causes. Scully makes this mistake in season 3, episode 22 of the X Files. She and Mulder are stranded on a rock and with time to think and talk, Scully attempts to explain Mulder's behaviors. She attributes his actions to his internal thoughts and feelings and not the events that have influenced his life. The clip below shows Scully making internal attributions about Mulder and making the mistake of the Fundamental Attribution Error:

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300 SUBSCRIBERS!!! Thanks so much, you guys! I seriously check every single day to see if I have any new subscribers, that's how OCD I am. Just a reminder: if you have a request, please post it on my channel and not as a comment on a video.

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Mulder and Scully are the joke of the FBI throughout the series. They are constantly battling superiors refusing to be helpful and those who try to shut down the X files. They don't possess much power in their positions, so when they need something done for them, they often have to find a way to assert their power in another way. The Dyadic Power theory says that someone in a position of low or moderate power is more likely to use controlling language and communication. Because this person will have limited power, they are often unsure if things are going to go their way and to try and change those outcomes, controlling and aggressive language is often used. In season 6, episode 7, Scully demonstrated just this. She needs to ask a favor from an agent who has been unwilling to work with the X Files in the past and who has better standing and authority with superiors than she does. Because she comes into the situation with low power, she uses demanding and controlling language to get what she wants:

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{X-Files} Scully bosses Jeffery Spender around

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Clip from Triangle. Scully gets pissed off because Skinner won't help her find Mulder and yells at Spender. No copyright infringement intended. The X-Files, Fox Mulder, Dana Scully and Jeffery Spender are owned by 20th Century Fox.

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The expectancy violation theory explains how people will react when verbal or nonverbal communication norms are broken.  Each individual culture has its own norms and customs that is is used to, but universally there are a few ways that people react when norms are broken and these often have to do with the gestalts we form when we first meet a person. If we have formed a positive gestalt, it is more likely that we will respond positively to a expectancy violation. But, if we have formed a negative gestalt, there will often be a negative reaction to the violation. In the X files, Mulder accepts that he often times causes expectancy violations. In season 6, episode 15, he takes it to new extremes while going undercover. He and Scully are investigating an almost utopian community and Mulder is suspicious as to what will happen when the norm of having a perfect front lawn is violated. The town, being suspicious of Mulder, formed a negative gestalt and you can see how they attempt to correct the violation in the clip below:

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As requested by Harmon1ca, a clip from Arcadia. Mulder keeps himself entertained while Scully visits the FBI lab. No copyright infringement intended. The X-Files and Fox Mulder are owned by 20th Century Fox.

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McCornack, S. (3 ed.). Reflect and Relate: An introduction to interpersonal communication. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins.