Nonverbal Communication: Messages beyond Words

1. Nonverbal Communication:Messages beyond Words • Chapter Summary • Characteristics of Nonverbal Communication • Influences on Nonverbal Communication • Gender • Culture • Types of Nonverbal Communication • Summary 1

2. Characteristics of Nonverbal Communication • Nonverbal Skills • A nonverbal communication is a message expressed in non-linguistic means • Nonverbal Skills are Important • Nonverbal skill is a strong predictor of popularity, attractiveness, and socio-emotional well-being. • Good nonverbal communicators are more persuasive • Nonverbal sensitivity is a part of “emotional intelligence” 2

3. Characteristics of Nonverbal Communication • Nonverbal Skills • All Behavior has Communicative Value • Can you just stop communicating • If someone was observing youknow what messages would yoube communicating • We’re always sending messages 3

4. Characteristics of Nonverbal Communication • Nonverbal Skills • Nonverbal communication is primarily relational • Nonverbal communication and identity management • You behave differently around different people • What are you trying to say? • “I’m friendly, I’m attractive, I’m happy” • How many different ways can you great a person? • Each way says something different about you. • Nonverbal communication conveys emotion 4

5. Characteristics of Nonverbal Communication • Nonverbal Skills • Nonverbal communication conveys emotion • Try to express the following nonverbally: • You’re tired. • You’re in favor of capital punishment. • You’re attracted to another person in the class • You think prayer in schools should be allowed • You’re angry at someone in the room 5

6. Characteristics of Nonverbal Communication • Nonverbal Skills • Electronic communication allows us to show emotion • E-mail and instant messages can be misunderstood • To solve this problem those who use this type of communication have developed emoticons • Can you identify the electronic emotion? :-) Happy :-( Frown :-D Big Smile :-I Indifference ;-) Wink or Grin :-)~ Tongue out or teasing 6

7. Characteristics of Nonverbal Communication • Nonverbal Skills • Nonverbal Communication Serves Many Functions • Repeating • Act out what you say. You may point in the direction • Complementing • Matching your nonverbal with verbal communication • Substituting • Offering nonverbal reactions in the place of verbal responses • If someone asked, “what’s up,” you may just shrug 7

8. Characteristics of Nonverbal Communication • Nonverbal Skills • Accenting • Adding emphasis through nonverbal gestures • Regulating • Nonverbal communication used to control a conversation • Drawing out the last syllable • Vocalized pauses • Contradicting • Sending mixed messages • Looking very upset while screaming, “I’m not angry!” 8

9. Characteristics of Nonverbal Communication • Nonverbal Skills • Deceiving • The most common clue to detecting deception is leakage • Changes in person’s normal behavior • Body clues or more likely to give away the deceiver • Science shows that most people have a 50/50 chance of detecting deception accurately • Though not always the case • Liars sustain more eye contact and fidget less 9

10. Characteristics of Nonverbal Communication • Nonverbal Skills • Nonverbal Communication is Ambiguous • Safeway clerks object to service with a smile policy • Many of the patrons thought the clerks were flirting with them • What does a kiss mean? • Some people have a difficult time reading emotion • Nonverbal learning disorder (NVLD) • Reading facial expressions, tone, and other cues is more difficult 10

11. Influences on Nonverbal Communication • Gender • Cultural norms distinguish male and female traits • Women • Make more eye contact in conversation • Are more vocally expressive • Interact at closer distances • Men • Are more likely to lean forward in conversation • Require more personal space than women • Men tend to stand at an angle when communicating 11

12. Influences on Nonverbal Communication • Gender While sex and culture have effect on communication styles, the effect is not as dramatic as one might expect 12

13. Influences on Nonverbal Communication • Culture • Nonverbal gestures can have different meanings • The “OK” Gesture • American culture means affirmation • In France and Belgium it means you’re worth zero • In Greece and Turkey it’s a vulgar sexual invitation • Americans are comfortable conducting business at about four feet while people from the Middle East stand much closer • Eye contact varies depending on the culture you’re in 13

14. Types of Nonverbal Communication • Body Movement • Body Orientation • Degree to which we face the person we’re communicating with • You can learn a lot from observing peoples body orientation • Posture • The least ambiguous form of nonverbal communication • Based on posture observation you can tell a great deal about a person’s mood • You can apply the same theory to social situations • Are people laughing? Are they rigid? How do they look? 14

15. Types of Nonverbal Communication • Body Movement • Gestures • Illustrators • Movements that accompany speech but don’t stand on their own • Emblems • Deliberate nonverbal communication that has a precise meaning • Adaptors • Unconscious bodily movements in response to the environment • Manipulators • Signs of discomfort or showing your unease in a situation 15

16. Types of Nonverbal Communication • Face and Eyes • Researchers have found that there are at least eight distinguishable positions of the eyebrows and forehead. • Facial expression tend to happen quickly • Though most expression are lost it is possible to identify the most common 16

17. Types of Nonverbal Communication • Face and Eyes • Expressions that happen quickly are known as microexpressions • Difficult to detect • Can be the best way to identify emotion • Eyes can express positive and negative emotion • Even the pupils of our eyes communicate • Pupil size depends on the interest in the item being viewed 17

18. Types of Nonverbal Communication • ABC News Video Click on box to play video 18

19. Types of Nonverbal Communication • Voice • Paralanguage • Nonverbal, vocal messages. • The way a word is spoken can give the word many meanings • Disfluencies • Stammering, use of “uh,” “um,” and “er.” • These can do a great deal to confirm or contradict your message • Young children tend to respond to paralanguage 19

20. Types of Nonverbal Communication • Voice • Sarcasm is one form of paralanguage • Say the next three examples literally then sarcastically • “Thanks a lot!” • “I really had a wonderful time on my blind date.” • “There’s nothing I like better than lima beans.” 20

21. Types of Nonverbal Communication • Touch • Touch can communicate many different messages • Touch plays a powerful role in the way we respond to each other and how they view us 21

22. Types of Nonverbal Communication • Time • Chronemics • The study of how humans structure time • Monochronic • Emphasizing punctuality, schedules, and completing tasks on time • Polychronic • Flexible schedules with multiple tasks pursued at the same time 22

23. Types of Nonverbal Communication • Appearance • The influences of physical attractiveness begins early • Preschoolers identify attractive people as friendly where as unattractive counterparts are seen as mean or not nice • Evaluation • Working both ways, teachers see students as attractive are more likely to give them better grades and students who see teachers as attractive are more likely to give higher evaluations 23

24. Types of Nonverbal Communication • Appearance • Clothing • Clothing is another means of nonverbal communication • People who wear certain clothes often gain persuasiveness • Certain occupations can be determined by clothes • Pedestrians were more likely to return dropped coins to individuals dressed in “high status” clothes 24

25. Types of Nonverbal Communication • Physical Space • Each of us carry a bubble • This bubble determines are comfortable communication zone • When this bubble is invaded we become pressured • Certain cultures develop different bubbles • You must choose a communicating distance based on the receiver • Territoriality • While your bubble may change territory stays the same • We tend to grant people with higher status more territory 25

26. Nonverbal Communication:Messages beyond Words • Chapter Summary • Characteristics of Nonverbal Communication • Influences on Nonverbal Communication • Gender • Culture • Types of Nonverbal Communication • Summary 26