Untitled Flashcards Set

Wed, Feb 5th, 2025 - Nonverbal Communication

MIDTERM EXAMPLE:

• disclaimers - an example of a true/false question would be - “a disclaimer is a powerful speech” but its not, it would be false because in the textbook the def is that its powerless speech

• For next monday, 6 hypothetical midterm questions

  • chapter 5

  • chapter 7

Nonverbal Communication -

• Approximately 93% of communication is NONVERBAL!

• A highly CODIFIED LANGUAGE that by itself is without spoken word

  • We miss signals often

    • Nonverbal’s are pretty subtle

• Primarily, nonverbal’s communicate feelings

  • They range in both meaning and impact

• Its not about WHAT you say, its HOW you say it

  • Its all about tone

• We are never in a state where we are not transmitting information

Perception and Identity

• Nonverbal communication can be ambiguous, cryptic and harder to read. (higher potential for miscommunications)

• Nonverbal’s are higher on the abstraction ladder

  • Non verbals tend to be more abstract than direct

The Nature of Nonverbal Communication

• Typically: we learn to adjust our nonverbal behavior by mirroring the other to conform

Myths

• You can tell someone is lying when they look up and to the right

  • although eye contact is something to pay attention to

• Closed body language “hides” your nonverbal’s or acts as a blocking behavior

  • You are always transmitting some sort of information

• The “Pinocchio Effect” says you can target a single nonverbal behavior to determine deceptiveness (ex: eye movement)

  • No concrete or quantifiable data has proven this claim

    • Then how do we know?

      • When asking criminals, the longer people spoke for for answering questions, were probs lying

      • You need a baseline

        • You need to know them well

        • CONTEXT is important when distinguishing a habit from a nonverbal tell

          • What does the overall situation tell us?

From Top to Bottom:

The Face

• When it comes to first impressions nonverbally, THE FACE IS KEY - and takes primacy

Hairstyles and grooming

• When it comes to first impressions nonverbally, the face is key - and takes primacy, including hair

Facial Expressions

• Key role in expressing thought, emotions and attitudes

• Our faces are constantly telegraphing emotions, sentiments, desires etc, whether we realize it or not

  • TWO STATES YOU CAN BE IN:

    • Comfort

      • Neutral Facial Expression

    • Discomfort

      • Muscles showing for example excitement, tension, or shock

• Chirality

  • An asymatical

    • Faces showing two emotions

    • If you divide the face in half you can see the true feels when u get rid of it

• Authenticity in Nonverbal comm

  • Epstien, red flag, creepy smile

Managing Impressions

• Impressions Management - trying to get others to view you as you want to be seen

  • THREE CATEGORIES FOR MANAGING IMPRESSIONS

    • MANNER

      • the way in which you carry yourself

      • Manner is the way you act

    • APPEARNACE

      • The way you dress and groom yourself

    • SETTING

      • The physical items you surround yourself with

First Impressions

• We make many early decisions on people based on nonverbal particularly from personal appearances

• Interviewers say they can size up someone in the first 15 seconds

Authenticity in nonverbal communication

• its important to understand the double edged sword of nonverbal comm, particularly how “positive” nonverbal’s may give us a good overall impression of someone, who may be misleading us, or are in fact malicious or just a bad person

What can nonverbals do for you?

• fake it til you make it

• Amy Cuddy coined the term “Power Posing”

  • EX: raising fists, opened body language

  • Movement prior to something stressful

  • You can change the way you think about yourself by how u think about urself

  • The low-life hack of changing posture and opening body language can change your testosterone and cortisol levels all which can CHANGE OUR FEELINGS ABOUT OURSELVES

Study of “Kinesics” = Study of Body Language

• Body Language

  • Facial Expressions

  • Movement

  • Eye contact

  • Hand Gestures

  • Posture

“Eyes are windows to the soul”

• Bridges the divide between you and the other person

• In western cultures, eye contact signals RESPECT AND MUTUAL INTREST. May also suggest comfortability or attraction

• Look people in the eye

  • If you ask someone to do something by looking them in the eyes, more likely to do what they are asking you to do.

  Moderation is key

  • If someone stares at you too much, eye contact is too much, its strange

Voice

• Very important feature of “nonverbal” voice is one of your most distinctive features

• Paralinguistic - the study of vocals

  1. Voice Qualities: Tone, pitch (rising/falling), rate-of-speaking, articulation, pronunciation and affectations

  2. Vocalizations - sounds (pausing, laughing, crying, sighing, fillers)

• The “Vocal Fry”

  • A vocal effect produced by very slow vibration of the vocal cords and characterized by a low guttural pitch

Hand gestures

• Nonverbals that signify, complement, emphasize, or complement what is being said

• TWO TO KNOW

  1. Emblems

     • Is a non verbal substitution

     • Immediately understood nonverbal’s that act as substitutes/replacements for verbal expressions

       • EX: waving goodbye

       • EX2: Flipping the bird

  2. Regulators

     • Nonverbals that control and “regulate” interactions

       • EX: Hand gestures that are apart of the verbals

Use of Time

• Monochronic

  • Rigid, punctual and singular view of time

    • EX: Our class meeting at the same time each week

• Polychronic

  • Flexible, change-warranted, and multiple views of time

    • EX: A lot of countries in Europe

PROXEMICS - the study of peoples use of space

• TERRITORIALITY - the “defense” of an area

  • The visible area a person claims through nonverbal communication

  • Usually by “marking” an area

Touch

• MOST POWERFUL NONVERBAL CUE

  • The Study of “haptics” looks at touch as physical connection

  • Intimacy and connection hinges on how touch is treated

  • Studies show that loneliness leads to a shorter lifespan

Olfactics

• The study of smells in comm

• For example, the use of perfumes indicates an attempt to establush a favorable first impression

• On the other hand, bad odors are perceived negatively

• Other Examples: Pheromones, freshly mowed grass, grandmothers house, smell of good drink