Nonverbal Messages

in Persuasion
Presented by; Fatina, Shahira, Ariesya & Hanis
Questions by; Husna & Arash
 CONTENTS
1) Nonverbal Channels
- Facial expression & eye behavior
- Bodily movement
- Proxemics
- Physical Appearance
- Artifacts
- Vocal Features
- Tactile Communication & Haptics
- Chronemics
2) Gender differences in nonverbal communication
3) Dialect
4) The use of nonverbal tactics
5) Other nonverbal Tactics
 NONVERBAL MESSAGES
● Nonverbal communication occur every day, and which we process
unconsciously.
● Nonverbal premises in persuasion resemble cultural premises in
that both are taught by our cultures and learned by us from infancy
onward via processes of reinforcement.
● The difference between cultural and nonverbal premises is that
nonverbal premises usually occur at a very low level of awareness
and so aren’t readily apparent. We almost certainly process them in
the peripheral route of the elaboration likelihood model (ELM).
Nonverbal
Channels
 1. Facial Expression and
2. Bodily Movement
Eye Behaviour
Bodily Movement: Kinesics or physical
Facial expression is familiar and readily
movement of the body, such as how a person
noticed, subtle nuances in facial expression
holds his or her body.
can greatly alter perceived meaning.
Several bodily movements convey meaning
People often use the face as a measure of
including clenching a fist and putting hands on
personality which frequently determines
hips can indicate intensity or dedication.
persuasiveness (Knapp & Hall, 2002).
Example:
Eye behaviour serves an affective function by
1. Persuaders demonstrate a relaxed but
indicating positive and negative emotions.
erect posture, good eye contact, not
slouching and dynamic gestures.
Example:
2. Powerless persuaders behave more
1. Speakers who maintain eye contact as more
submissive, little direct eye contact, use
credible and we are suspicious of those whose
few gesture and closed postures with legs
is continually shifting.
and arms.
 3. Proxemics
The study of space and how we use it and
how it makes us feel more comfortable or
uncomfortable.
1. Public distance: Speakers are 15-25 feet
or more from the audience. (Informal
persuasion will not work)
2. Social or formal distance: 7–12 feet from
between the persuader and persuadee.
For example, job interviews.
3. Personal or informal distance: 3 ½ - 4ft,
persuader and persuadee are relaxed to
interact, communication is less structured
4. Intimate distance: 6 to 18 inches,
persuasion may or may not occur in these
instances. Example of intimate distance is
whispering to someone.
4. Physical Appearance
Our choice of color, clothing, hairstyles, and
other factors affecting appearance are also
considered a means of nonverbal messages.
Another element in physical is bodily
attractiveness. Slenderness is considered
attractive in females. Meanwhile for males, a
muscled-body and broad shoulders result in
high attractiveness ratings.
Clothing and adornments such as jewelry also
contribute people’s physical appearance.
Example: Job seekers dress appropriately for
interviews with potential employers.

5. Artifactual Communication
the messages others get from the objects we
choose to display, decorate, or wear, is also
symbolic.
Examples
1. Object surrounding a political persuader
(banners, bunting, persons and flags)
2. Clothing sends signal about what they are
like, believe and represent (nurse’s/army
officer’s uniform)
3. Personal object (arts, photos etc)
contribute to the ultimate success of failure of
the persuasive attempt
Semantics of sound can affect the way we
respond to persuaders’ messages as it indicates
a lot about the persuaders & emotions
Factors : volume, pitch, rate, vocal quality, clarity
of pronunciation, intonation pattern, breathiness
& the use of silence.
Examples;
1.Monotonic persuaders are boring and lose
most of their persuasiveness.
2. Rate of speech indicate nervousness or
confidence
3. Persons who articulate poorly, mispronounce
words, or have a speech impediment generally
lose some of their credibility and effectiveness
6. Vocal Features
Tactile Communication &
Haptics
A body language involves touching that
conveys message such as handshaking and
kissing.
2 general factors:
1. part of the body being touched
2. Demographic characteristics of a person
Eg; a person slightly touches stranger on the
shoulder and asks “Excuse me, but I’m sort
of lost. Can you tell me where the nearest
bus stop is located?, get more information
and conversation than when not using the
light touch.
Haptic - communicated by the texture/feel of
object in the situation (temperature,
humidity)
Chronemics
Chronemics is the way we use time, such as
being prompt, late, or long-winded
Different cultures have different chronemic
behaviours.
Example;
1. By coming late, you communicate to the
others that you don’t care about the
appointment or that you are a thoughtless
person and a prima donna.
2. Put people in place by making them wait
to get to see you, favourite trick by police
officer and corporate executives.
- Cultural related
 The use of touch Body movements &
positions

The use of time

Gender Differences
In Nonverbal Gaze & gaze holding

Communication
Leaderships in
small groups The use of voice
1. The use of touch
● Women are more comfortable with touch compared to men, and
● Women have higher levels of touch comfort than men
● Men are less likely to initiate touching in same-gender encounters (in contrast with cross-gender
encounters)
● Women are more comfortable about touching other women (in general)

TOUCH ● Often expresses warmth and intimacy (among women)

● It can communicate power or status relationships
● Men touch more frequently if they perceive themselves to be superior to the person they touch.
● If the toucher is of the same status as the touchee, women react more positively and men more
negatively (particularly if it’s women)
Girls are touched more
frequently from birth on
as they react positively to
touching
2. The use of time
● Males tend to spend more time in leisure activities
● Females tend to interact in social activities and conversations not related to entertainment more
than males (e.g: family, friends)

Family time tends to

Peer time promotes
reduce the risk of
substance abuse and
While such activities in both
genders
sexual activity

● Females spend more time in interpersonal relationships than do males (unless sports or business is
involved)
● Examples are family, friendships, romantic, work
 3. Leaderships in
small groups
● Physical placement at the head of the table is
the best predictor of who gets to be the leader.
(both all-males and all-females groups)
● BUT, in mixed-gender groups, men emerge as
the leader and women do not.
● Dominance is indicated by “look/speak” rather
than “look/listen” behaviour:
Speaking shows
dominance when
catching the eyes of
others
● Men often tend to avoid smiling and laughing
when talking as it is considered unmasculine
● Women have more expressive faces than men.
4. Gaze & gaze
holding
● Women tend to gaze more than men and they
need to see to whom they are speaking to.
● Women are also seem to be gazed at more
frequently than men.
● Females are perceived as having more warmth
than men.
● Males usually avoid gazes of other males and
they maintain greater distances when in
conversation.
● Women tend to face more directly toward the
person with whom they are
interacting/communicating.
● Women are more approachable than men.

5. Body movements
& positions
● Men are more relaxed and more
physically expansive compared to
women.
● Women tend to carry things in front of
them WHILE men tend to carry things at
their side.
6. The use of voice
● Men are less fluent than women, they make more verbal
errors, and use more vocalized pauses such “uh” and
“um”.
● Women’s voices tend to have higher pitches.
● Women’s voices have more variability in pitch, are more
musical, and are more expressive than men’s voices.
● Men’s voices tend to be demanding, blunt, forceful, and
militant
 People learn dialect
naturally
Patterns and styles of
pronunciation and usage

People are often being

Culture bound Dialects discriminated when
they keep their dialect

Indicates an individual’s Discrimination often

socioeconomic or occurs when
regional background
African-American or
Latino dialects are
used
 The Use of Nonverbal Tactics
First impression is important. Persuaders often use
nonverbal tactics in a process called impression
management. They need to look the part to convince
the audience of the reliability of the source

The use of artifacts of clothing

Corporate Communication Creative

It can make someone looks very It can make someone looks It shows their creative
professional, serious, confident very open, easy to talk to, process, as part of their
and will compel people to follow while still maintaining some identity
and listen to them degree of professionalism
 Other nonverbal tactics
People also use their bodies to
inhibit/invite communication.

Blocking behaviour Regulators

When we cover or block a part of
our body as a barrier between us
and someone else.
Nonverbal messages that accompany
speech to control or regulate what the
speaker is saying. Regulators are often
associated with turn-taking in
conversation, influencing the flow and
pace of discussion.

● Nodding to indicate you are listening or

understanding something or encouraging
the speaker to continue
● The lifting or lowering the chin at the end of
VS sentence to indicate whether the speaker
already finished or not
● Raise a finger or lift our head to signal that
we want to speak
 Other nonverbal tactics
Sense of smell
Smell/scent is said to be one of
nonverbal communication,
though not widely explored.

There is also a connection between

We consider smell/scent when trying to
understand each other. But it is done
through cultural filters.
In one culture, one may have repulsive
odour but deemed healthy by other
cultures.
odour and mood. While some scents, like
perfumes, may make us feel a little
happier, others may make us feel sad.
This phenomena is also used to
manipulate our buying behavior. For
example, scent of a new car.
QUESTIONS
QUESTION 1

Based on this image, which nonverbal channel

is this? Imagine, this lady is the persuadee, in
your opinion, what is she trying to
communicate?
 QUESTION 2

Clothing is used to
communicate. How does this
ads persuade someone?
 QUESTION 3

You and your best friend

achieved a good grade for a
test. Without saying anything,
both of you ‘high-five’ each
other. Which nonverbal
channel is this?
 QUESTION 4

A higher-status person talks

more than a lower-status
person and they dominate the
communication. Which
nonverbal channel is this?
Thank You
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