What is Nonverbal Communication? No one definition Dr. A. O’Brien

Verbal and Nonverbal are so intertwined that there’s a fuzzy line between them.

The idea is… there are categories of communication that overlap some aspects of each other.

It’s not as simple as: WORDS NO WORDS

Pioneer in nonverbal research Ray Birdwhistell defines nonverbal communication –... the signals to which meaning will be attributed

Note: some sounds are not vocal, e.g., snapping one’s fingers, stamping a foot …nv includes vocal and nonvocal phenomena

American sign language is verbal... but silent

Also other vocal phenomena more sounds than words e.g., zap...buzz

Some nonvocal made with the breath, taking a small bit of air onomatopoetic words - zzz

Mehrabian uses Explicit SAID IN WORDS EXACT RULES ABOUT IT Implicit –SO SUBTLE,NOT IN WORDS –LACK OF EXPLICIT RULES

Categorizes implicit or non verbal behavior Immediacy Status Responsiveness

CLASSIFYING NONVERBAL BEHAVIOR

Body Motion ( Kinesic Gestures) Movements of the: –Body –Limbs –Head –feet and legs –facial expressions –eye behavior –posture

Some movements provide information about emotions Some give info about personality traits or attitude

Ekman & Friesen Classification of nonverbal acts

Emblems nonverbal acts with a direct verbal translation a word or two or a phrase... generally culture specific

Emblems Thumbs up OK V with fingers peace Finger pointed to templesuicide Hand grasping throatchoke hand to mouth eating tilt head, eyes closed sleeping

Use of Emblems (a) Insults Directions come go stop slow down Greetings Departures

Use of Emblems (b) selected responses to questions yes no maybe I don’t know physical state emotion triumphant angry sad

Part of body associated with emblems Often the hands... but not exclusively Nose wrinkle Disgust Drop of the jaw and exaggerated raising of the eyebrows Surprise Upturned palms, shrugged shoulders Uncertainty

Use of Emblems 1 When verbal channels of communication are blocked Sign language of the deaf Gestures used by television production personnel Gestures used by SWAT team

Use of Emblems 2 Signs between two underwater swimmers. Motions made by people too far apart to hear each other well. We choose emblems the way we choose words We don’t think very much about it. We generally don’t string emblems together.

Illustrators directly tied to speech - movements that –accentuate a word or phrase –sketch a path of thought –point to present objects –depict a spatial relationship –depict the pacing of an event –draw a picture of the referent –depict bodily action

Illustrators They may also be emblems used to illustrate verbal statements; but you leave the word out and use the emblem.

Aware of the illustrators? Less deliberate than emblems. (They seem to be within the realm of awareness, but we are not as aware of them as we are of emblems which we use much more deliberately.)

Frequency of Illustrators...more in face to face situations...fewer over the intercom or telephone... in excitement and enthusiastic situations... when the receiver isn’t getting the message through words alone... when you can’t find the right word

Affect Displays Facial configurations that display affective states: sad tired ecstatic Used to: –Repeat –Augment –contradict –can be unrelated to verbal affective statements.

Affect Displays Can occur without our knowing it; (Once it happens we are aware of it.) We may or may not want to communicate our affective state through such displays

Regulators 1 Non verbal acts that maintain and regulate the interactions between two or more participants.

Regulators 2 They can tell the speaker to: continue hurry up become more interesting explain let the other talk

Turn-taking regulators (the most studied kind) Head tilting Nods Eye contact e.g. less eye contact if you want to terminate conversation.

Status of regulators On the periphery of our awareness; hard to stop them. Almost involuntary We may not be aware of doing it ourselves, but are very aware when others do it to us.

Adaptors Learned early in life Less well documented Less well understood

Self-Adaptors Manipulations of own body indicating increase in anxiety Examples –holding –scratching –picking oneself –eye-cover contact - (might be shame or sadness)

Alter-Adaptors Related to interpersonal behaviors; probable holdovers from early aggression, fleeing, fighting Examples: leg movements looking over shoulder before gossiping

Object adaptors Learned later in life - more socially acceptable –stroking a pipe –tapping a pencil –hands in pockets –twisting a ring

Physical Characteristics Not all nonverbal communication comes through movement and motion Some are static self presentation characteristics –body height –Weight –Hair –skin color, tone –breath odor

Touching Behavior (Haptics) stroking pushing guiding another’s motion

Paralanguage How - not what you say. Speech behavior –Voice quality and pitch –Range and rhythm control –Tempo –Articulation –Resonance –Glottis control –Vocal and lip control

Vocalizations Non verbal sounds - not words, but convey a meaning. Divided into three categories: –vocal characterizers –vocal qualifiers –vocal segregates

vocal characterizers Laughing Sighing Crying Belching Inhaling Excessive groaning Whining Yelling Whispering

vocal qualifiers intensity (loud-soft) pitch height high-low –extreme drawl to extreme clipping

vocal segregates ( separators) “um” “uh” “ah”

Proxemics use and perception of social and personal space. Small group ecology - seating arrangements spatial relationships related to leadership, communication flow

Proxemics Personal space orientation variations sex, age, status, cultural orientation, etc.. Territoriality - term associated with our staking out a personal space we don”t want infringed upon.

Artifacts When objects interact with persons to send nv cues clothes lipstick false eyelashes wigs perfume

Environmental Factors Associated with the communication event that impinge upon the human relationship, but not part of it. –furniture –architectural style –interior decorating –lighting conditions –colors –temperature

The End based on Mark Knapp’s research in nonverbal communication from Bridges Not Walls : A Book About Interpersonal Communication, John Stewart, ed., McGraw-Hill Publishing Co., 1990.