Influences on Nonverbal Communication

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Pick any individual nonverbal code—let’s say a kiss. A kiss can mean lots of different things in different places and between different people in different situations. A kiss is a friendly manner of greeting between the sexes and with friends of the same sex throughout much of southern Europe and Latin America. This is not necessarily the case in the United States and Canada, where kissing tends to be reserved for immediate family, romantic partners, or very close friends. You might kiss your romantic partner differently in front of your family members than you would when you’re alone. And if you’re sending an e-mail to your eight-year-old niece, you might end it with a big wet kiss, signaled by the emoticon :-X. Clearly, culture, technology, and the situation all serve as powerful influences on our nonverbal behavior.