Chap 4: NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION

Credibility and Mixed Messages:

- Nonverbal cues often seen as more trustworthy. - Conflicting verbal and nonverbal messages create confusion. - Persistent mixed signals can damage credibility and relationships. - mixed messages - messages in which verbal and nonverbal signals contradict each other

Nonverbal Communication Expresses Our Identities

- Our identities (the groups to which we belong, our cultures, our hobbies and interests, etc.) are conveyed nonverbally through the way we set up our living and working spaces, the clothes we wear, the way we carry ourselves, and the accents and tones of our voices (Canfield, 2002). - Our physical bodies give others impressions about who we are, and some of these features are more under our control than others: - Ex: height, level of attractiveness, the way we carry ourselves through posture, eye contact, tone of voice. - ARTIFACTS - the objects and possessions that surround us, also communicate our identities. Ex: clothes, jewelry, space decorations; - We can also use nonverbal communication to express identity characteristics that do not match up with who we actually think we are.

Conveying Meaning with Nonverbal Communication:

- Reinforces verbal cues (e.g., gestures support words). - Replaces words when verbal communication isn't possible. - Can contradict spoken messages, leading to perceived mixed signals.

Eye contact

- While eye behaviors are often studied under the category of kinesics, they have their own branch of nonverbal studies called OCULESICS, which comes from the Latin word oculus, meaning "eye." - The face and eyes are the main point of focus during communication, along with ears - eye contact is also used to monitor interaction by taking in feedback and other nonverbal cues and to send information. - Our eyes bring in the visual information we need to interpret people's movements, gestures, and eye contact

Head Movements and Posture

- both used to acknowledge others and communicate interest or attentiveness. HEAD MOVEMENTS: a head nod is a universal sign of acknowledgement in cultures where the formal bow is no longer used as a greeting. - There are four general human postures: standing, sitting, squatting, and lying down - STANDING: we use subconsciously to make us look bigger and show assertiveness, especially elbows out to look dominant. - SITTING: leaning back shows informality and indifference, straddling a chair is a sign of dominance but also some insecurity, and leaning forward shows interest and attentiveness.

Nonverbal Congruence

- consistency among different nonverbal expressions within a cluster. - For example, a posture may be combined with a touch or eye behavior to create what is called a nonverbal cluster - Congruent nonverbal communication is more credible and effective than ambiguous or conflicting.

Facial Expressions

- faces are most expressive part of body. - universality of a core group of facial expressions: happiness, sadness, fear, anger, and disgust. The first four are especially identifiable across cultures, but their triggers are culturally diverse. - help set the emotional tone for a speech. positive = smile - can be used to infer personality traits and make judgments about a speaker's credibility and competence.

Vocalics

- is the study of paralanguage, which includes the vocal qualities that go along with verbalmessages, such as pitch, volume, rate, vocal quality, and verbal fillers • Repetition. Vocalic cues reinforce other verbal and nonverbal cues (e.g., saying, "I'm not sure" with an uncertain tone). • Complementing. Vocalic cues elaborate on or modify verbal and nonverbal meaning (e.g., the pitch and volume used to say "I love sweet potatoes" would add context to the meaning of the sentence, such as the degree to which the person loves sweet potatoes or the use of sarcasm). • Accenting. Vocalic cues allow us to emphasize particular parts of a message, which helps determine meaning (e.g., "She is my friend," or "She is my friend," or "She is my friend"). • Substituting. Vocalic cues can take the place of other verbal or nonverbal cues (e.g., saying, "uh huh" instead of "I am listening and understand what you're saying"). • Regulating. Vocalic cues help regulate the flow of conversations (e.g., falling pitch and slowing rate of speaking usually indicate the end of a speaking turn). • Contradicting. Vocalic cues may contradict other verbal or nonverbal signals (e.g., a person could say, "I'm fine" in a quick, short tone that indicates otherwise).

Proxemics

- refers to the study of how space and distance influence communication - PUBLIC SPACE: starts about twelve feet from a person and extends out from there. It is formal and not intimate (Hall, 1968). This is the least personal of the four zones. - SOCIAL SPACE: four to twelve feet away from our body, is typically in the context of a professional or casual interaction, but not intimate or public. Preferred in many professional settings because it reduces the suspicion of any impropriety. The expression "keep someone at an arm's length" means that someone is kept out of the personal space and kept in the social/professional space. - PERSONAL SPACE: starts at our physical body and extends four feet (Hall, 1968).These zones are reserved for friends, close acquaintances, and significant others, which is most of our comm. - INTIMATE SPACE: the invisible line that is 1.5 feet from our body, we enter the intimate zone, which is reserved for only the closest friends, family, and romantic/intimate partners

Kinesics

- the word kinesics comes from the root word kinesis, which means movement, and refers to the study of hand, arm, body, and face movements.

Personal Presentation and Environment

-Personal presentation involves two components: our physical characteristics and the artifacts with which we adorn and surround ourselves. - PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS: include body shape, height, weight, attractiveness, and other physical features of our bodies.

Primary Function of Nonverbal Communication:

-Reinforces, substitutes, or contradicts verbal communication. - Influences others, regulates conversation, and expresses identity.

Scenario: • Imagine you're attending a team meeting at work. During the presentation, your colleague, Emma, glances at you and raises one eyebrow.

Interpretations? - can be anything 1. Skepticism: Emma might be signaling disbelief or skepticism about what's being presented. The raised eyebrow can be a universal sign of "Really?" or "Are you sure?" 2. Inquiry: She might be asking if you understand or agree with what's being presented, seeking your silent feedback. 3. Inside Knowledge: Perhaps you and Emma had a prior conversation about this topic, and she's referencing that discussion silently, assuming you'd catch on. 4. Accidental or Habitual Movement: It's entirely possible that Emma just has a habit of raising her eyebrow, and it had no intended meaning towards you at all. 5. Physical Discomfort: Maybe something was in her eye or she felt a sudden itch.

Gestures

Three Main Types of Gestures: - ADAPTORS: touching behaviors and movements that indicate internal states typically related to arousal or anxiety. - EMBLEMS: gestures that have a specific agreed-on meaning within a cultural context. - ILLUSTRATORS

Immediacy behaviors

are verbal and nonverbal behaviors that lessen real or perceived physical and psychological distance between communicators and include things like smiling, nodding, making eye contact, and occasionally engaging in social, polite, or professional touch.

Haptics

refers to the study of communication by touch

Chronemics

refers to the study of how time affects communication. Personal time refers to the ways in which individuals experience time (Bruneau, 2011). The way we experience time varies based on our mood, our interest level, and other factors

Nonverbal Communication Is More Ambiguous

• As with verbal communication, most of our nonverbal signals can be linked to multiple meanings/ambiguous • Nonverbal communication does not have explicit rules of grammar that bring structure, order, and agreed-on patterns of usage. • Implicitly learn norms of nonverbal communication

Verbal and nonverbal communication include both vocal and non-vocal elements.

• Non-vocal elements of nonverbal communication include body language such as gestures, facial expressions, and eye contact. • A vocal element of nonverbal communication is paralanguage • PARALANGUAGE is the vocalized but not verbal part of a spoken message, such as speaking rate, volume, and pitch. • When we communicate, we do more than just say words. The way in which we say those words carries a lot of information and meaning too. Paralanguage refers to these vocal cues that accompany our words but are not the words themselves. • I'm fine- cheerful tone/flat tone