Chapter 91. RealComm4e_chapter_outline

What to Expect

• The Nature of Nonverbal Communication
• Functions of Nonverbal Communication
• Nonverbal Communication Codes
• Influences on Nonverbal Communication

Chapter Outline

1. The process of intentionally or unintentionally signaling meaning through behavior other than words is referred to as nonverbal communication.
   1. Nonverbal behavior is communicative because it conveys a message with or without the use of words.
   2. Nonverbal communication is often spontaneous and unintentional, as we often send nonverbal messages without being aware of our actions.
   3. Nonverbal communication is ambiguous, and clues about the meaning of behavior can be picked up from the situational context.
   4. Nonverbal communication is more believable than verbal communication because it is less controllable. Leakage cues reveal information we may not be saying and set the stage for channel discrepancy, in which one set of behaviors says one thing and another set says something different.

   Ask Yourself:

   • How might nonverbal communication be ambiguous (have multiple meanings based on the situation)?
2. Nonverbal behaviors function in communication alone and with verbal behaviors.
   1. Nonverbal behavior can reinforce verbal messages in three ways.
      1. Repeating mirrors the verbal message and offers very clear nonverbal cues that repeat the verbal message.
      2. Complementing is consistent with the verbal message it accompanies and often enhances it.
      3. Accenting clarifies or emphasizes specific information in a verbal message.
   2. Nonverbal cues can be used to substitute for verbal messages in situations where words are unavailable, inappropriate, or unintelligible.
   3. Nonverbal behavior functions to contradict verbal behavior to convey meaning that is the opposite of the verbal message.
   4. Nonverbal cues are used for interaction management, to manage impressions and regulate or coordinate verbal interaction to help us navigate the back-and-forth of communication in a constructive manner.
   5. Nonverbal behavior can create immediacy, a feeling of closeness, involvement, and warmth between people achieved through such things as smiling, making eye contact, and appropriate touching.
   6. Nonverbal behavior aids in deception, the attempt to convince others of something that is false.

   Ask Yourself:

   • Can you think of a situation in which the nonverbal communication complemented the verbal communication you received? How did it make you feel?
   • What is an example of a use of nonverbal communication to deceive?
3. Nonverbal codes are symbols we use to send messages without or in addition to verbal messages.
   1. There are five main categories of kinesics, the aspects of gestures and body movements that send nonverbal messages.
      1. Emblems are movements and gestures that have a direct verbal translation in a particular group or culture.
      2. Illustrators reinforce verbal messages and help visually explain what is being said.
      3. Regulators help manage interactions.
      4. Adaptors satisfy some physical or psychological need.
      5. Affect displays convey feelings, mood, and reactions.
   2. Facial expressions are another nonverbal code.
      1. People across cultures are adept at deciphering seven common facial expressions (sadness, anger, disgust, fear, interest, surprise, and happiness).
      2. Facial management techniques are ways of consciously manipulating our faces to convey a particular expression.
      3. Masking involves replacing an expression that would convey true feeling with an expression that conveys a feeling that is appropriate for a given interaction.
   3. Oculesics—the study of the use of the eyes to communicate—covers the importance of the eyes in communication across the lifespan.
   4. The voice also influences communication.
      1. The vocalized sounds that accompany our words are nonverbal behaviors called paralanguage.
         1. Pitch in language involves variations in the voice that give prominence to certain words or syllables.
         2. Vocal tone is a modulation of the voice, usually expressing a particular feeling or mood.
         3. Vocal volume is how loud or soft the voice is.
      2. Vocalizations are paralinguistic cues that give information about our emotional or physical state, such as laughing, yawning, or crying.
         1. Back-channel cues—the “ah . . . um . . . uh, uh” vocalizations—help regulate conversations.
   5. Our physical appearance, including clothing and artifacts, communicates a great deal of information.
   6. We send nonverbal messages by the spaces that surround us when we are communicating.
      1. Proxemics is the way we use and communicate with space. There are four specific spatial zones that carry communication messages.
         1. The intimate zone (0–18 in.) is reserved for spouses, romantic partners, very close friends, and close family members.
         2. The personal zone (18 in.–4 ft.) is where we communicate with friends, relatives, and occasionally colleagues.
         3. The social zone (4–12 ft.) is most comfortable for communicating in professional settings.
         4. The public zone (12 ft. and beyond) allows for distance between the interactants.
      2. Territoriality is the claiming of an area, with or without legal basis, through continuous occupation of that area.
      3. The way we arrange our environment to express ourselves is also a form of nonverbal communication. This includes layout, décor, scent, and color.
   7. Haptics is the use of touch to send messages. This begins early in life and remains an important form of communicating in various professional and personal relationships.
      1. Functional-professional touch is used to perform a job.
      2. Social-polite touch is a polite acknowledgment of the other.
      3. Friendship-warmth touch conveys liking and affection.
      4. Love-intimacy touch is used by romantic partners, parents and children, and even close friends and family members.
      5. Sexual-arousal touch is an intense form of touch that plays an important part in sexual relationships.
   8. We use time to send intentional and unintentional messages to communication partners.
      1. Chronemics is the use of time in nonverbal communication: the ways that we perceive and value time, structure our time, and react to time.
      2. Time orientation refers to our personal associations with the use of time and determines the importance we give to conversation content, the length or urgency of the interaction, and punctuality.

   Ask Yourself:

   • Challenge yourself to spend fifteen minutes on your college campus observing the nonverbal communication around you. What do you notice? Can you identify particular types of relationships based on the nonverbal behaviors you observe?
   • What does your home or office space communicate about you to others?
4. Nonverbal communication must be considered in context both to understand its meaning and to use it appropriately
   1. Culture influences nonverbal communication and affects everything from eye behavior to touch to facial expressions, and includes time orientation and notions of physical attractiveness.
      1. Contact cultures depend on touch as an important form of communication.
      2. Noncontact cultures are touch-sensitive or even tend to avoid touch.
      3. Sex and gender influence nonverbal communication. Women usually pay more attention to both verbal and nonverbal cues when evaluating their partners and deciding how much of themselves they should reveal to those partners, whereas men attend more to verbal information.
   2. Nonverbal channels are less available in certain forms of mediated communication (such as social networking sites), so new nonverbal cues develop to create a sense of immediacy (emoticons, capital letters, font changes, and so on).
   3. The situational context has a powerful impact on our nonverbal communication and includes spheres like the place you are in, your comfort level, the event, current events, and the social environment.
      1. The public-private dimension is the physical space that affects our nonverbal communication.
      2. The informal-formal dimension is psychological in nature and deals with our perceptions of personal versus impersonal situations.

   Ask Yourself:

   • How does a public or private context influence your nonverbal communication?
   • How does the informal or formal nature of a relationship or interaction influence your nonverbal communication?