Chp 6: Nonverbal Communication

BOOK: pgs. 83-96

PDF: pgs. 93-106

What you need to know

• Define nonverbal comm.

• What are the functions of nonverbal comm.? (repeating; accenting, substituting with emblems; complementing with illustrators; regulating; contradicting/conflicting)

• What are emoticons and emojis?

• Types of Nonverbal Comm.

  • Body movement and the study of kinesics;

  • Vocalics and paralanguage, pitch, volume and rate, disfluencies;

  • Appearance and artifacts;

  • Touch and the study of haptics;

  • Oculesics - the study of eye movement;

  • Space and the study of proxemics;

  • Environment; and time and the study of chronemics,

  • Olfactics communication related to smell;

• Nonverbal communication competence (pay attention to reliable nonverbal cues; perception checking; self-monitoring)

• Practice quiz: http://fountainheadpress.com/commpath/quizzes/commpath_ch06/

Nonverbal Communication

• Nonverbal communication - the process of intentionally or unintentionally signaling meaning through behavior other than words.

• Kinds of human messages and response not expressed in words

• Elements of communication other than the words spoken themselves

• But they transmit meaning, and can display more emotional meaning (except for a poker face)

• People extract meaning more from nonverbal than verbal, typically

• Often spontaneous and, unintentional

• More believable than verbal communication (channel discrepancy)

Nonverbal Communication Principles

• They convey emotional and relationship information

• They maintain a relationship with verbal messages

• They rely on context for meaning

• But are we having communication discrepancies wearing a mask?

Nonverbal Functions

• Repeating: the physical actions that follow (are after) the verbal message reinforce what’s being said - saying hi and then waving. Illustrators

• Accenting - behavior that makes something greater (augment) such as pounding fists - increasing the intensity of a message

• Complementing - nonverbal behavior more subdued, that occurs at the same time as the verbal message. Similar to accenting, but no such amplifying of a message. Illustrators

• Substituting - nonverbal replaces the verbal message. Emblems are gestures with a specific meaning

• Regulating - actions that govern the course of an interaction with another in conversation - help regulate/manage our interactions

• Conflicting - when a verbal message says one thing, but the nonverbal indicates another

Types of Nonverbals

• Kinesics - gestures and body movements

  • Nonverbal behaviors that relate to the movement of the body

  • Open and closed body posture

  • Mirror

  • Affect displays, nonverbals that convey emotion, feelings, and reactions

  • Adaptors, satisfy bodily needs

• Oculesics - the study of eye movement

  • Use eye contact to convey feelings, attitudes, and thoughts

  • Maintaining it in the US is perceived as respectful

  • It shows attention to the speaker, too

  • Other cultures it is viewed negatively

• Proxemics - the study of how we use of and communicate with space

• Edward T. Hall identified 4 distanced zones in Western culture

  • Intimate distance - a foot and a half apart; their own space

  • Personal distance - from a foot and a half to about four feet apart; friendships or collegiality

  • Social distance - four feet to twelve feet apart; people with little to no connection

  • Public distance - from twelve feet on; conveys a formal situation

  • Be familiar with the measurements: T/F question on the exam

• Haptics - touch

• Use touch in a variety of ways to send messages

  • Functional/professional - the least intimate type of touch used by certain workers such as dentists, hairstylists, and hospice workers, as part of their livelihood

  • Control/power - touch used to exert power over a person

  • Love/intimate - touch most often used with one’s romantic partners and family

  • Excitement - most intimate level of personal contact with one another

  • Anger - touch used for physical harm

• Chronemics - the study of how people perceive the use of and meaning in time

  • How people treat, value, react to, and construct time

• How someone uses time conveys

  • Emotions - who you choose to spend time with shows how you feel about them and how you prioritize them in your life

  • Personal values - respecting another person’s desire to respond and not “hogging the air” illustrates an understanding of time in a conversation and the right all people have to a share of that time

• Differs across groups and cultures

  • Monochronic people (doing things one at a time). Like to be on time like the Germans.

  • Vs.

  • Polychronic people (doing several tasks at once - more fluid with time) not as concerned whether someone is on time or not. More fluid approach to time (like the Spanish)

• Olfactics - meaning of smells

• Meaning to different smells differs by culture

• Smell triggers memories, too, thus meaning

• Vocalics - meaning of voice. The goal is to have good vocal variety, inflection,

• Paralanguage - vocalized sounds that accompany words:

  • Pitch - how high or low your voice sounds when you speak

  • Volume - how loud or soft a person’s voice is

  • Tone (warmth) - the emphasis placed on syllables, sounds, words, and phrases

  • Rate - how fast you deliver a message

  • Pauses, silent and vocalized

    • Silent pauses - occur when there’s a momentary cessation of any sound

    • Vocalized pauses - occur when people use sounds and words like “uh,” “um,” and “y’know” to fill the void (filler words)

  • Gasps and sighs - the use of breath to convey a message

    • Gasps - surprise or fear

    • Sighs - frustration, tiredness, or uncomfortableness

  • How to sound smart in your Ted Talk

Type of Nonverbals Artifacts

• Objects or accessories used to communicate information about yourself to others (Attitudes, Feelings, Moods, Beliefs, Interests, Hobbies, Ideologies)

• What about tattoos today?

Technology Influences Nonverbal Communication

• Using technology sometimes results in the loss of paralinguistic cues (your characteristic style or manner of expressing yourself orally, “His manner of speaking was quite abrupt”; “Her speech was barren of southernisms”; “He spoke quickly”)

• Emoticons :) using keyboard keys

• About Emojis “pictographs”):

Guidelines for Dialogic NV Communication

• Ask clarifying questions about NVs

• Don’t assume others understand your NVs

• Control your nonverbal reactions

• Use situation-appropriate NVs

• Learn cultural differences in NV meanings

• Connected, but alone by Sherry Turkle (more email and less nonverbals, is this a good thing?): https://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_connected_but_alone?language=en

Key Terms

1. Nonverbal communication - the elements of communication that do not involve words but nevertheless transmit messages

2. Repeating - the function of nonverbal communication whereby physical actions that follow verbal messages reinforce what is said

3. Accenting - the function of nonverbal communication whereby nonverbal behaviors augment a message while it is delivered

4. Complementing - the function of nonverbal communication whereby nonverbal behavior occurring at the same time as the message displays the same content

5. Substituting - the function of nonverbal communication whereby physical actions take the place of verbal messages

6. Regulating - the actions that govern the course of an interaction with another person

7. Conflicting - when a verbal message says one thing while corresponding nonverbal communication indicates something different

8. Kinesics - nonverbal behaviors related to the movement of the body

9. Open posture - the posture achieved when the majority of one’s body faces the audience or other person

10. Closed posture - the posture achieved when one shields his or her body from the other person

11. Mirror - the practice of replicating the posture of the other person to indicate mutual interest

12. Oculesics - the use of eye contact to send messages

13. Proxemics - how we use space to convey information

14. Haptics - the study of how touch expresses meaning

15. Chronemics - the branch of nonverbal communication that involves how people, treat, value, react to, and structure time

16. Monochronic - the category of chronemics marked by liking to do things one at a time, breaking time up into small, manageable units

17. Polychronic - the category of chronemics marked by trying to do several tasks at the same time and having a more fluid approach to scheduling time

18. Olfactics - the dimension of nonverbal communication related to smell

19. Vocalics - those things that contribute to the maintenance or creation of sound in your voice that help convey meaning

20. Artifacts - objects used to communicate information about yourself to those around you