COM 102 Chapter 6

Nonverbal Communication

can be taken in by all five of our senses. conveys important interpersonal and emotional messages. can contradict verbal communication by flushing, sweating and breathing rapidly when you tell your friend you're "not feeling nervous." Nonverbal communication expresses who we are. Nonverbal communication can be used to influence people in a variety of ways, but the most common way is through deception.

Nonverbal communication conveys meaning by (functions of nonverbal com)

reinforcing, substituting for, or contradicting verbal communication

Communication includes

vocal and non-vocal elements

Vocal

Verbal Communication:

Spoken words

Nonverbal Communication:

Paralanguage (pitch, volume, speaking

Non-Vocal elements

Verbal COM:

Writing, sign language

Nonverbal COM: Body language (gestures, facial, eye contact, etc.)

Involuntary Nonverbal Signals

are much more common, and although most nonverbal communication isn't completely involuntary, it is more below our consciousness than verbal communication and therefore more difficult to control. The involuntary nature of much nonverbal communication makes it more difficult to control or "fake."

Facial expressions

reinforce verbal communication such as smiling when telling a funny story.

Gestures

such as shrugging your shoulders or showing a 'thumbs up' gesture can substitute verbal communication when you're asked how you're doing.

Deception

is an intentional act of altering information to influence another person, which means that it extends beyond lying to include concealing, omitting, or exaggerating information. Deception isn’t always bad/mean.

Tie signs

nonverbal cues that communicate intimacy and signal the connection between two people

Immediacy behaviors

Immediacy behaviors lessen real or perceived physical and psychological distance between communicators and include things

Immediacy behaviors examples

smiling, nodding, making eye contact, and occasionally engaging in social, polite, or professional touch

Communicating Emotions.

Nonverbal communication is our primary tool for communicating emotions. Touch and facial expressions are two primary ways we express emotions nonverbally. Love is a primary emotion that we express nonverbally and that forms the basis of our close relationships. Nonverbal communication also expresses who we are. Our identities.

Artifacts

which are the objects and possessions that surround us, also communicate our identities.

Kinesics

means "movement," and refers to the study of hand, arm, body, and face movements.

Gestures

a type of movement that expresses meaning and typically involves the hands, arms or head

There are three main types of gestures:

adaptors, emblems and illustrators

Adaptors

touching behaviors and movements that indicate internal states typically related to arousal or anxiety such as fidgeting.

Emblems

are gestures that have a specific agreed-on meaning such as a hitchhiker's raised thumb.

Illustrators

are the most common type of gesture and are used to illustrate the verbal message they accompany.

The four general human postures

standing, sitting, squatting, and lying down.

Oculesics

is the study of the eye in communication.

Basic facial expressions

happiness, sadness, fear, anger, and disgust.

Haptics

to the study of communication by touch.

Functional-professional touch

part of routine professional interaction

Social-polite touch

socially sanctioned touching that help show inclusion and respect such as a handshake.

Friendship-warmth touch

more important because they serve a relational maintenance purpose and communication closeness.

intimacy touch

level, touch is more personal and is typically only exchanged between significant others. Touching faces, holding hands, and full frontal embraces are examples of touch at this level. sexual-arousal touch, which is the most intimate form of touch, as it is intended to physically stimulate another person.

Vocalics

the study of paralanguage, which includes the vocal qualities that go along with verbal messages, such as pitch, volume, rate, vocal quality, and verbal fillers.

Speaking Rate

to how fast or slow a person speaks and can lead others to form impressions about our emotional state, credibility, and intelligence.

Verbal fillers

are sounds that fill gaps in our speech as we think about what to say next.

Various Communicative Functions of Vocalics

-Repetition

-Complementing

-Accenting

-Substituting

-Regulating

-Contradicting

Repetition

Vocalic cues reinforce other verbal and nonverbal cues

Complementing

Vocalic cues elaborate on or modify verbal and nonverbal meaning

Accenting.

Vocalic cues allow us to emphasize particular parts of a message, which helps determine meaning

Substituting

Vocalic cues can take the place of other verbal or nonverbal cues

Regulating

Vocalic cues help regulate the flow of conversations

Contradicting

Vocalic cues may contradict other verbal or nonverbal signals

Proxemics

to the study of how space and distance influence communication.

Four Zones of Space

-Public Space

-Social zone

-Personal space zone

-Intimate zone

Public Space

the space desired during formal, non-intimate encounters such as a public speech. Public space starts about twelve feet from a person and extends out from there.

Social Zone

which is four to twelve feet away from our body, is typically in the context of a professional or casual interaction, but not intimate or public.

Personal Space Zone

is reserved for friends, close acquaintances, and significant others. Much of our communication occurs in the personal zone, which is what we typically think of as our "personal space bubble" and extends from 1.5 feet to 4 feet away from our body.

Intimate Zone

which is reserved for only the closest friends, family, and romantic/intimate partners. 1.5 feet from our body. A breach of this space can be comforting in some contexts and annoying or frightening in others.

Territoriality

an innate drive to take up and defend spaces.

Primary Territories

because they are marked or understood to be exclusively ours and under our control.

Secondary Territories

don't belong to us and aren't exclusively under our control, but they are associated with us, which may lead us to assume that the space will be open and available to us when we need it without us taking any further steps to reserve it.

Public Territories

are open to all people. People are allowed to mark public territory and use it for a limited period of time, but space is often up for grabs, which makes public space difficult to manage for some people and can lead to conflict.

Chronemics

to the study of how time affects communication.

Biological time

to the rhythms of living things such as be groggy in the morning.

Personal time

to the ways in which individuals experience time based on our mood, interest level or other factors.

Physical time

to the fixed cycles of days, years, and seasons such as seasonal affective disorder.

Cultural time

to how a large group of people view time

Personal presentation two components:

our physical characteristics (body shape, height, weight, attractiveness, and other physical features of our bodies.) and the artifacts

Guidelines for Sending Nonverbal Messages

-Multichannel or relies on multiple senses

-Affects our interactions by influencing our thoughts and emotions

-Creates rapport or unspoken and subconscious cooperation

-Regulates conversation

-Relates to listening by adding another component to interpret

-Relates to impression management by expressing our identities

Following the suggestions to become a better encoder of nonverbal communication

-There is no "Nonverbal Dictionary"

-Recognize that certain nonverbal signals are related

-Read nonverbal cues in context

(will lead to better decoding competence through increased awareness.)

Gestures & honesty

-While it doesn't always mean a person is being honest, displaying palms is largely unconsciously encoded and decoded as a sign of openness and truthfulness.

-While it doesn't always mean a person is being honest, displaying the thumb or thumbs while the rest of the hand is in the pocket is a signal of a dominant or authoritative attitude.

-Nervous communicators may have distracting mannerisms in the form of adaptors that you will likely need to tune out in order to focus more on other verbal and nonverbal cues.

Head Movements and Posture

-The head leaning over and being supported by a hand can typically be decoded as a sign of boredom, the thumb supporting the chin and the index finger touching the head close to the temple or eye as a sign of negative evaluative thoughts, and the chin stroke as a sign that a person is going through a decision-making process.

-In terms of seated posture, leaning back is usually decoded as a sign of informality and indifference, straddling a chair as a sign of dominance (but also some insecurity because the person is protecting the vulnerable front part of his or her body), and leaning forward as a signal of interest and attentiveness.

Eye Contact

-When someone is avoiding eye contact, don't immediately assume they are not listening or are hiding something, especially if you are conveying complex or surprising information.

-When the sideways glance is paired with a slightly raised eyebrow or smile, it is sign of interest. When combined with a furrowed brow it generally conveys uncertainty. But add a frown to that mix and it can signal hostility.

Facial Expressions

-Be aware of discrepancies between facial expressions and other nonverbal gestures and verbal communication. Since facial expressions are often subconscious, they may be an indicator of incongruency within a speaker's message, and you may need to follow up with questions.

Haptics

Consider the status and power dynamics involved in a touch.

Vocalics

People often decode personality traits from a person's vocal quality. In general, a person's vocal signature is a result of the physiology of his or her neck, head, and mouth

Proxemics (gestures)

-The size of a person's "territory" often speaks to that person's status.

-Since infringements (also called encroachments) on others' territory can arouse angry reactions and even lead to violence, be sensitive to territorial markers.

Personal Presentation and Environment

Be aware of the physical attractiveness bias, which leads people to sometimes mistakenly equate attractiveness with goodness.

Nonverbal Leakage,

to nonverbal behaviors that occur as we try to control the cognitive and physical changes that happen during states of cognitive and physical arousal. (deceptive nonverbal behaviors result).

"Eyebrow Flash"

recognition when we see someone we know and the open hand and the palm up gesture that signals a person would like something or needs help