NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION

THE NATURE OF NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION BEHAVIOR

Nonverbal communication behaviors are those bodily actions and vocal
qualities that typically accompany a verbal message, that are usually interpreted as
intentional, and that have agreed upon interpretations within a culture or speech
community (Burgoon, 1994, p.231).
When we say that nonverbal are interpreted as intentional, we mean that
people act as if they are intended even if they are performed unconsciously or
unintentionally (p.231). So when Aliya says “I’ve had it” as she slams a book
down on the table, we interpret the loudness of her voice and the act of slamming
the book down as intentionally emphasizing the meaning of the words.
Likewise when we refer to agreed-upon interpretations in a culture or speech
community, we recognize that although people from around the world use many of
the same nonverbal ques they may interpret them differently. For instance, a smile
may mean a positive experience, or it may mean enjoyment with contact, or it may
simply be a means of saving face in an uncomfortable situation.
In addition to bodily actions or vocal qualities that accompany verbal
messages, nonverbal communication also includes the messages sent by our use of
physical space and our choices of clothing, furniture, lighting, temperature, and
color.
BODY MOTIONS
Of all nonverbal behavior, we are probably most familiar with kinesics, or
body motions, which include the use of eye contact, facial expression, gesture, and
posture to communicate.
Eye Contact
Eye contact, also referred to as gaze, is how and how much we look at
people with whom we are communicating. Eye contact serves many functions in
our communication. Its presence shows that we are paying attention. How we look
at a person also reveals a range of emotions such as affection, anger, or fear.
Moreover, intensity of eye contact may also be used to exercise dominance
(Pearson, West and Turner, 1995, p.121). For instance, we describe people in love
as looking “doe eyed”; we comment on “looks that could kill,” and we talk of
someone “staring another person down”.
 Moreover, through our eye contact we monitor the effect of our
communication. By maintaining your eye contact, you can tell when or whether
people are paying attention to you, when people are involved in what you are
saying and whether what you are saying is eliciting feelings.
The amount of eye contact differs from person to person and from situation
to situation. Although people look at each other as they talk, studies show that
talkers hold eye contact about 40% of the time and listeners nearly 70 % of the
time (Knapp and Hall, 1992, p. 298).
We generally maintain better eye contact when we are discussing topics with
which we are comfortable, when we are genuinely interested in a person’s
comments or reactions, or when we are trying to influence the other person.
Conversely, we tend to avoid eye contact when we are discussing topics that make
us uncomfortable, when we lack interest in topic or person, or when we are
embarrassed, ashamed, or trying to hide something.
Facial Expression
Facial expression is the arrangement of facial muscles to communicate
emotional states or reactions to messages. Our facial expressions are especially
important in conveying the six basic emotions of happiness, sadness, surprise, fear,
anger, and disgust that are recognized across cultures (Ekman and Friesen, 1975, p.
137-8).
Gesture
Gestures are movements of hands, arms and fingers that we use to describe
or to emphasize. Thus when a person says, “about this high” or “nearly this round,”
we expect to see a gesture accompany the verbal description. Likewise, when a
person says, “Put that down” or “Listen to me,” a pointing finger, pounding fist, or
some other gesture often reinforces the point. People do vary, however, in the
amount of gesturing that accompanies their speech. Some people “talk with their
hands” far more than others.
Posture
Posture is the position and movement of the body. Changes in posture can
also communicate. For instance, suddenly sitting upright and leaning forward show
increased attention, whereas standing up may signal “I’m done now,” and turning
one’s back to the other conveys a redirection of attention away from the other
person.
How Body Motions Are Used
Body motions in general and gestures in particular help us considerably in
conveying meaning (Ekman and Friesen, 1996, pp.49 – 98).
1. Body motions may be used to take the place of a word or a phrase. We
could make a considerable list of nonverbal symbols that take the place of
words or phrases that we use frequently. For instance, thumbs up means
“everything is go”; first and second finger held in V shape means “peace” or
“victory”; shaking the head from side to side means “no” and up and down
means “yes”; shrugging the shoulders means “may be”, “I don’t care”, or “I
don’t know”.
In many countries, emblems are used as a complete language. Sign
language refers to system of body motions used to communicate, which
include sign language of the deaf and alternative sign languages used by
Trappist monks in Europe and the women of Australia (Leathers, 1997, p.
70).

2. Body motions may be used to illustrate what a speaker is saying. We use

gestures to illustrate in at least five ways:
 To emphasize speech: A man may pound a table in front of him as he
says, “Don’t bug me.”
 To show the path or direction of thought: A professor may move her
hands on an imaginary continuum as she says, “The papers ranged
from very good to very bad.”
 To show position: a waiter may point when he says, “Take that table.”
 To describe: People may use their hands to indicate size as they say,
“The ball is about three inches in diameter.”
 To mimic: People may nod their heads as they say, “Did you see the
way he nodded?”

3. Body motions may display thon e nonverbal expression of feelings.

These emotional displays will take place automatically and are likely to be
quite noticeable. For instance, if you stub your toe on a chair as you drag
yourself out of the bed in the morning, you are likely to grimace in pain.
 Occasionally we are fooled by these displays when people intentionally de-
intensify or overreact. For example, a baseball player may remain stone-
faced when he is hit by a wild pitch and refuse to rub the spot where he has
been struck; likewise, a youngster may howl “in pain” when her older sister
bumps her by accident.

4. Body motions may be used to control or regulate the flow of

conversation or other communication transaction. We use shifts in eye
contact, slight head movements, shifts in posture, raised eyebrows, and
nodding head to tell a person when to continue, to repeat, to elaborate, to
hurry up or to finish. Effective communicators learn to adjust what they are
saying and how they are saying it on the basis of these cues.

5. Body motions may be used to relieve tension. As we listen to people and

watch them while they speak, they may scratch their head, tap their foot or
wring their hands.
Cultural Variations
Several cultural differences in body motions are well documented.
Eye contact A majority of people in the United States and in other Western
countries expect those with whom they are communicating to “look them in the
eye”, but in many societies avoiding eye contact communicates respect and
deference (Martin and Nakayama, 1997, p. 149). For instance in Japan people
direct the gaze to a position around Adam’s apple and avoid direct eye contact.
Chinese, Indonesians, and rural Mexicans lower their eyes as sign of deference ─
to them too much eye contact is a sign of bad manners. Arabs, in contrast, look
intently into the eyes of the person with whom they are talking ─ to them direct
eye contact demonstrate keen interest.
Gestures, movements and facial expression Peoples of other cultures also show
considerable difference in their use of gestures, movements and facial expressions.
Gestures in particular can assume completely different meanings. For instance,
forming a circle with a thumb and forefinger ─ the OK sign in the United States ─
means zero or worthless in France and a vulgar expression in
Germany, Brazil and Australia (Axtell, 1999, p.44, 143, 212). Display of emotions
also vary.
Gender Variations
Men and women also show differences in their use of nonverbal communication
behavior (Canary and Hause, 1993, p. 141).
Eye contact In the United States women tend to have more frequent eye contact
during conversations than men do (Cegala and Sillars, 1989). For instance, women
tend to hold eye contact more than men regardless of the sex of the person they are
interacting with (Wood, 1997, p. 198).
Facial expression and gestures Women tend to smile more than men do, but their
smiles are harder to interpret. Men’s smiles generally mean positive feelings,
whereas women’s smiles tend to be suggestions of responding to affiliation and
friendliness (Hall, 1998, p. 169). Gender differences in the use of gestures are so
profound that people have been found to attribute masculinity or femininity on the
basis of gesture style alone (Pearson, West, and Turner, 1995, p. 126). For
instance, women are more likely to keep their arms close to their body, are less
likely to lean forward with their body, play more often with their hair or clothing,
and tap their hands more often than men do.
Not only do men and women use nonverbal behaviors in different ways, but
men and women differ in how they interpret the nonverbal communication
behavior of others. A number of studies have shown that women are better than
men at decoding nonverbal behavior, vocal and facial ques (Stewart, Cooper,
Stewart, and Friedley, 1998, p. 74)
SELF PRESENTATION
People learn a great about us based on how we choose to present ourselves through
our choices in clothing and personal grooming, our use of touching and the way we
treat time.
Clothing and Personal Grooming
Choice of clothing and personal grooming will communicate a message.
Determine what message you want to send, and then dress and groom yourself
accordingly. Lawyers and business managers understand the dress and grooming
quite well. For instance, an attorney knows that a person charged with drug
peddling would be foolish to show up in the courtroom wearing the local gang
starter jacket, heavy gold chains, oversized pants, and a backward facing baseball
cap. Similarly. Business managers periodically adjust their dress code to make sure
they are reflective of the image their business want to project. For instance,
Georgie Geyer (1999) pointed in an editorial, “Korn-Ferry International, the
nation’s largest executive search firm experimented all summer with ‘five-day-a-a-
week’ casual. Finally, it declared the experiment a failure, because ‘We found that
casual dress fostered a casual attitude’”. (p. A12)
Many young people consciously choose clothing styles and personal
grooming behaviors that stretch Western norms of “acceptability”. From blue hair
and nail colors to tattooing, more and more people are choosing to use their
clothing and appearance to differentiate themselves from some groups and to
identify closely with others.
Each of us has the right to express our individuality and to communicate our
feelings in our dress and personal grooming, but we must recognize that doing so
sends messages that create barriers as well as bonds.
Poise
Poise refers to the assurance of manner. As much as 20 percent of the
population experience a high degree of nervousness when encountering strangers,
speaking in groups and in public speaking settings (Richmond and McCroskey,
1995, p.35). For most people, nervousness decreases when they gain confidence in
their ability to function well in the particular setting.
Touch
Through touch (the use of hands, arms, and other body parts to pat, hug,
slap, kiss, pinch, stroke, hold, embrace, and tickle) we communicate a variety of
meanings. In Western culture, people shake hands to be sociable and polite, pat a
person’s back for encouragement, hug a person to show love, and clasp raised
hands to show solidarity. Our touching can be gentle or firm, perfunctory or
passionate, brief or lingering. And how we touch can communicate our power, our
empathy, or our understanding.
People differ in their touching behavior and their reactions to unsolicited
touch from others. Some people like to touch and be touched; other people do not.
Women tend to touch others less than men do. Women view touch as an expressive
behavior that demonstrates warmth and affiliation. Men view touch as instrumental
behavior (Pearson, West and Turner, 1995, p. 142).
In most societies, the kinds and amounts of touching behavior vary widely.
Touching behavior that seems innocuous to one person may be perceived to be
overtly intimate or threatening to another. Touch that is perceived OK in private
may embarrass a person when done in public or with a large group of people. What
you communicate by touching may be perceived positively or negatively. Thus, if
you want to be perceived as sensitive and caring, it is a good idea to ask the other
before touching.
Time
A less obvious aspect of our self-presentation is how we manage and react to
others’ use and management of what Edward T. Hall (1959) calls informal time,
including duration, activity and punctuality (p.135).
Duration is the amount of time that we regard as appropriate for certain
events or activities. For instance, we may think a sermon should last twenty
minutes and a typical class fifty minutes. When the duration of that event or
activity differs significantly from our expectations, we begin to attribute meaning
to that difference. For example, if we are told that our job interview will take an
hour and it is over in twenty minutes, we may conclude that we didn’t get the job.
Similarly if the interview stretches to two hours, we may believe we are in strong
contention for the job. Because our use of time creates its own meanings, we need
to be sensitive to polite conventions about the “appropriate duration” of events and
activities.
Activity refers to what people perceive should be done in a given time
period. Many of us work during the day, sleep at night, eat a light meal around
midday, and so on. When someone engages in behavior at a time that we deem
inappropriate, we are likely to react negatively. For example, a female
entrepreneur, who prides herself on being available to her employees, may well be
put off when one of them calls her at home during the dinner hour to discuss a
presentation that is to be delivered at the end of the month. The employee may
think he is presenting himself as organized and interested in his work, but Susan
may view this interruption as rude and insensitive.
Punctuality is the extent to which one strictly adheres to the appointed or
regular time. In many respects, it may be the dimension of time that is more closely
related to self-presentation. If you make an appointment to meet your professor in
her office at 10 a.m., her opinion of you may differ depending whether you arrive
at 9:50, at 10:00, at 10:10, or at 10:30. Similarly, your opinion of her will differ
depending on whether she is there or not at the appointed time. In Europe and the
United States, strict punctuality is a dominant cultural imperative. When an
appointment is set, one is normally expected to be prompt or risk having early or
late arrival interpreted as meaningful.

Cultural Variations in Self-Presentation

Just as the meaning of body motions is culturally determined, so too are self-
presentation behaviors.
Touch According to Gudykunst and Kim (1997), differences in touching behavior
are highly correlated with culture. In some cultures lots of contact and touching is
normal behavior, whereas in other cultures, individual space is respected and
frequent touching is not encouraged. “People in the high cultures evaluate ‘close’
as positive and good, and evaluate ‘far’ as negative and bad. People in low contact
cultures evaluate ‘close’ as negative and bad, and ‘far’ as positive and good (p.
235). Latin American and Mediterranean countries are high contact culture, north
European cultures are medium to low in contact, and Asian cultures are for the
most part low-contact cultures.
Time a particularly important area of differences concern perceptions of time.
Some cultures, like the dominant culture of the United States, view time
monochronically; that is, they see time as compartmental, irreversible, and one-
dimensional. Time is a scarce resource to be “spent”, “saved”, and “budgeted”. As
a result, in the United State, being even a few minutes late may require you to
acknowledge your lateness. Being ten to fifteen minutes late requires an apology,
and being more than thirty minutes late is likely to be perceived as an insult
requiring a great deal of explanation to earn the person’s forgiveness (p.161)
People from other cultural backgrounds, such as those from Latin America,
Asia or the Middle East, tend to view time polychronically, a view that sees time as
continuous and involves engaging in several activities at the same time. To those
following a polychromic view of time, the concept of “being late” has no meaning.
One arrives when one has completed what comes before. In Latin American or
Arab cultures, for instance, it is not unusual for either person to be more than thirty
minutes late, and neither is likely to expect or offer an apology (p. 160).

COMMUNICATION THROUGH MANAGEMENT OF YOUR

ENVIRONMENT
In addition to the way we use body motions and self-presentation cues, we
communicate non-verbally through the physical environment in which our
conversations occur, including the space we occupy, the temperature of the
surroundings, the lighting levels, and the colors used in the interior decorations.
Space
As a study, space includes permanent structures, the moveable objects within
space, and informal space.
Management of permanent structures Permanent structures are the buildings in
which we live and work and the parts of those buildings that cannot be moved.
Although we may not have much control over their creation, we do exercise
control in our selection of them. For instance, when you rent an apartment or buy a
house, you consider whether or not it is in tune with your lifestyle. People who
select a fourth floor apartment consider themselves different from those who live
in single storied bungalows. Doctors, lawyers and other professionals usually
search with care to find homes that fit the image they want to communicate.
In addition, specific features affect our communication within that
environment. For instance, people who live in apartment buildings are likely to
become better acquainted with neighbors who live across the hall and next door
than those who live on other floors. Similarly people who share common space
such as laundry facilities and garages are more likely to become better acquainted
than those who do not.
Management of movable objects within space Whether the space is a bedroom, a
living room, a seminar room, or a classroom, we have the opportunity to arrange
and rearrange moveable objects to achieve the effects we want. For example, a
manager’s office arranged so that the manager sits behind the desk and the
employee chair is on the other side of that desk says, “Let’s talk business ─ I’m the
boss and you’re the employee.” In contrast, if the employee chair is at the side of
the desk (creating an absence of a formal barrier), the arrangement says, “Don’t be
nervous ─ let’s just chat.”
Management of informal space Managing informal space includes the space
around us at the moment. In the dominant U.S. culture, four distinct distances
represent what most people consider appropriate or comfortable in various
situations (Hall, 1969):
  Intimate distance, up to eighteen inches, is appropriate for private
conversations between two close friends.
 Personal distance, from eighteen inches to four feet, is the space in which
casual conversations occur.
 Social distance, from four to twelve feet, is where impersonal business such
as job interviews is conducted.
 Public distance is anything more than twelve feet.
Of greatest concern to us is the intimate distance, that which we regard as
appropriate for intimate conversation with close friends, parents and younger
children. If you have become uncomfortable because a person you were talking
with was standing too close to you, you are already aware of how attitudes towards
intimate space influence people’s conversation. People usually become
uncomfortable when “outsiders” violate this intimate distance.
Intrusions into our intimate space are acceptable only in certain settings and
then only when all involved follow the unwritten rules. For instance, people will
tolerate being packed into a crowded elevator or subway and even touching others
they do not know provided the others follow such “rules” as standing rigidly,
looking at the floor or the indicator above the door, and not making eye contact
with others. Only occasionally will people who are forced to invade each other’s
intimate space acknowledge the other as a person.
Interpersonal problems occur when one person’s use of space violates the
behavioral expectations of another. Unfortunately, sometimes one person
intentionally violates the space expectations of another. When the violation is
between members of the opposite sex, it can be considered sexual harassment.
Our intimate or personal space moves with us when we move, but we also seek
to claim other space whether we currently are occupying it or not. That is, we are
likely to look at a certain space as our territory, as space over which we may
claim ownership. If Marcia decides to eat lunch at the company commissary, the
space at the table she selects becomes her territory. Suppose that during lunch
Marcia leaves her territory to get butter for her roll. The chair she left, the food on
the table, and the space around that food are “hers”, and she will expect others to
stay away. If, when she returns, Marcia finds that someone at the table has moved
a glass or a dish into the area she regards as her territory, she is likely to feel
resentful.
 Many people stake out their territory with markers. For example, Ramon
arrives early for the first day of class, finds an empty desk, puts his backpack at the
side on the floor, and puts his coat on the seat. He then makes a quick trip to the
restroom. If someone comes along while Ramon is gone, moves his backpack and
coat and sits down at the desk, that person is violating what Ramon has marked as
his territory.
Temperature, Lighting and Color
Three other elements of the environment that can be controlled affect
communication and “send” messages. These are temperature, lighting, and the
colors used in the environment.
Temperature can stimulate or inhibit effective communication by altering
people’s mood and changing their level of attentiveness. Can you recall the
difficulty you have had listening to a teacher in a hot stuffy classroom?
Lighting levels also add meaning to communication messages. In lecture halls and
reading rooms, bright light is expected ─ it encourages good listening and
comfortable reading. By contrast, in a chic restaurant, or a television lounge, you
expect the lighting to be soft and rather dim, which makes for a cozy atmosphere
that invites conversation (Knapp and Hall, 1992, p. 72). We often change the
lighting level in a room to change the mood and indicate the type of interaction that
is expected. Bright lights encourage activity and boisterous conversations, whereas
softer light levels calm and soothe, encouraging quiet and more serious
conversations.
Color may stimulate both emotional and physical reactions. For example,
red excites, blue comforts and soothes, and yellow cheers and elevates moods.
Professional interior designers who understand how people react to colors may
choose blues when they are trying to create a peaceful serene environment for a
living room, whereas they will decorate in reds and yellows in a playroom.
In addition specific colors also convey information about people and events.
For instance, youth gangs often use colors to signal membership, In some
communities gang members wear bandannas or other articles of clothing in a
specific color.
Cultural Variations in Management of the Environment
As you would expect, the environment in which people feel comfortable depend on
their cultural background. In the United States there is ample land and many
people live in individual homes or in large apartments. In other countries, where
land is scarce, people live in more confined spaces and can feel “lonely” or isolated
in larger spaces. Similarly, people from different cultures have different ideas
about what constitutes appropriate distance for various interactions. Recall that in
the dominant culture of the United States personal or intimate space is eighteen
inches or less. In Middle Eastern culture, however, men move much closer to other
men when they are talking (Samovar, Porter and Stefani, 1998, p. 165). Thus,
when an Arab man talks with a man from the United States, one of the two is likely
to be uncomfortable. Either the American will feel uncomfortable and invaded or
the Arab will feel isolated and too distant for serious conversation. We also differ
in the temperature ranges that we find comfortable. People who originate from
warmer climates can tolerate heat more easily than people who originate in cooler
climates. Even the meaning we assign to colors vary by national culture and
religion. In India, white not black is the color of mourning and brides wear red.