PSYCHOLOGY OF

COMMUNICATION
Lecture 6 – Nonverbal Messages
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Define nonverbal communication and
paraphrase the principles of 6.1
nonverbal communication.
6.3 Explain the role of culture in
nonverbal communication.

Identify the major channels of nonverbal

6.2
communication and give examples of
the messages sent and received
through these channels.
6.4 Identify some of the important skills
for encoding and decoding
nonverbal messages.
NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION

Nonverbal communication is communicating without words.

○ It improves your accuracy in understanding people.

○ It increases your effectiveness in a variety of

communication situations.

○ It increases your own perceived attractiveness.

○ It enables you to make a more effective self-presentation.

FIGURE 6.1:
THE POWER OF
NONVERBAL MESSAGES
Nonverbal messages influence just about every aspect of
communication you might name.
PRINCIPLES OF NONVERBAL
COMMUNICATION 1 of 3
L.O. 6.1

Nonverbal Messages Interact with Verbal

Messages
○ Accent
○ Complement
○ Contradict
○ Control
○ Repeat
○ Substitute
PRINCIPLES OF
NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
2 of 3

Nonverbal Messages Help Manage Impressions

○ To be liked
○ To be believed
○ To excuse failure
○ To secure help
○ To hide faults
○ To be followed
○ To confirm self-image and communicate it to
others
 TABLE 6.1 TEN NONVERBAL MESSAGES AND
ATTRACTIVENESS 1 OF 2
Dos
Gesture to show liveliness and animation in ways that
are appropriate to the situation and to the message.
Nod and lean forward to signal that you’re listening and
are interested.
Smile and otherwise show your interest, attention, and
positivity in your facial expressions.
Make eye contact in moderation.
Touch in moderation when appropriate.
Don’ts
Gesture for the sake of gesturing or gesture in ways that
may prove offensive to members of other cultures.
Go on automatic pilot, nodding without any coordination
with what is being said, or lean so forward that you
intrude on the other’s space.
Overdo it; inappropriate smiling is likely to be perceived
negatively.
Stare, ogle, glare, or otherwise make the person feel
that he or she is under scrutiny.
Touch excessively or too intimately. When in doubt,
avoid touching another.
TABLE 6.1 TEN NONVERBAL MESSAGES AND
ATTRACTIVENESS 2 OF 2
Dos
Use vocal variation in rate, rhythm, pitch, and
volume to communicate your animation and
involvement in what you’re saying.
Don’ts
Falling into the pattern where, for example, your
voice goes up and down, up and down, up and
down without any relationship to what you’re
saying.

Use silence to listen. Show that you’re listening with Listen motionlessly or in ways that suggest you’re
facial reactions, posture, and backchanneling cues. only listening half-heartedly.

Stand reasonably close to show a connectedness. Exceed the other person’s comfort zone.

Present a pleasant smell and be careful to Overdo the cologne or perfume.

camouflage the onions, garlic, or smoke that you
don’t notice.

Dress appropriately to the situation. Wear clothing that is uncomfortable or that calls
attention to itself and hence away from your
message.
PRINCIPLES OF
NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
3 of 3

Nonverbal Messages Help Form Relationships

○ Communicate the nature of your relationship

○ Communicate your relationship dominance and status

Nonverbal Messages Help Structure Conversation

Nonverbal Messages Can Influence and Deceive

○ The media and product placement

Nonverbal Messages Are Crucial for Emotional Expression

 GREETINGS

The social or cheek kiss is fast replacing the

handshake in the workplace, perhaps because
of the Latin influence or perhaps because of
growing informality in the business world
(Olson, 2006). But because the practice is in
transition, it’s often difficult to know how to
greet people. What nonverbal signals would you
look for in deciding whether someone expects you
to extend a hand or pucker your lips?
TEN CHANNELS OF NONVERBAL
COMMUNICATION 1 of 11
L.O. 6.2
Body Communication

○ Body Appearance

■ Attractiveness

○ Body Gestures

■ Kinesics

■ Emblems

■ Illustrators

■ Affect displays

■ Regulators

■ Adaptors
 STEREOTYPES

Do the men and women you know conform to the

stereotypes that claim males are more concerned
with the physical and females more concerned
with personality? How closely do your attitudes
and behavior conform to this stereotype?
TEN CHANNELS OF NONVERBAL
COMMUNICATION 2 of 11

Facial Communication
○ Facial management techniques

■ To intensify

■ To deintensify

■ To neutralize

■ To mask

■ To simulate

○ Encoding-decoding accuracy
TEN CHANNELS OF NONVERBAL
COMMUNICATION 3 of 11

Eye Communication
■ Eye contact

● To seek feedback

● To inform the other person that the

communication channel is open

● Visual dominance can signal power

■ Eye avoidance

● Civil inattention
TABLE 6.4 COMMUNICATION TIPS BETWEEN PEOPLE WITH AND PEOPLE
WITHOUT VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS 1 OF 3

If you’re the person without visual impairment and are talking with a person
with visual impairment:
Generally Specifically
Identify yourself. Don’t assume the visually impaired person
will recognize your voice.
Face your listener; you’ll be easier to Don’t shout. Most people who are visually
hear. impaired are not hearing impaired. Speak
at your normal volume.

Encode into speech all the meanings Remember that your gestures, eye
you wish to communicate. movements, and facial expressions cannot
be seen by the visually impaired.
 TABLE 6.4 COMMUNICATION TIPS BETWEEN PEOPLE WITH AND PEOPLE
WITHOUT VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS 2 OF 3

If you’re the person without visual impairment and are talking with a person with visual
impairment: continued
Generally Specifically

Use audible turn-taking cues. When you pass the role of speaker to a person
who is visually impaired, don’t rely on nonverbal
cues; instead, say something like “Do you agree
with that, Joe?”

Use normal vocabulary and discuss topics that Don’t avoid terms like see or look or even blind.
you would discuss with sighted people. Don’t avoid discussing a television show or the way
your new car looks; these are normal topics for all
people.
TABLE 6.4 COMMUNICATION TIPS BETWEEN PEOPLE WITH AND PEOPLE
WITHOUT VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS 3 OF 3

If you are a person with visual impairment and are talking with a person without visual
impairment:
Generally Specifically
Help the sighted person meet your special If you want your surroundings described, ask.
communication needs. If you want the person to read the road signs,
ask.

Be patient with the sighted person. Many people are nervous talking with people
who are visually impaired for fear of offending.
Put them at ease in a way that also makes
you more comfortable.

Demonstrate your comfort. When appropriate, let the other person know
that you’re comfortable with the interaction,
verbally or nonverbally.
TEN CHANNELS OF NONVERBAL
COMMUNICATION 4 of 11

Space Communication
○ Proxemic Distances

● Intimate Distance – 0 to 18 inches

● Personal Distance – 18 inches to 4 feet

● Social Distance – 4 feet to 12 feet

● Public Distance – 12 to 25+ feet

● Distances depend on factors including gender,

age, personality, and liking.
 TEN CHANNELS OF NONVERBAL
COMMUNICATION 5 of 11

Space Communication continued

○ Territoriality

■ Primary territories: your exclusive preserve

■ Secondary territories: don’t belong to you, but are associated with you

■ Public territories: open to all people

○ Territory markers

■ Central markers

■ Boundary markers

■ Earmarkers
TEN CHANNELS OF NONVERBAL
COMMUNICATION 6 of 11

Artifactual Communication

○ Color Communication

■ Color influences perceptions and behaviors.

○ Clothing and Body Adornment

■ Results in perceptions about socioeconomic class,

seriousness, attitudes, your concern for convention,
your sense of style, your creativity, etc.

○ Space Decoration

■ May communicate status and wealth, personality

 DRESS IMPLICATIONS

A popular defense tactic in sex crimes against

women, gay men, and lesbians is to blame the
victim by referring to the way the victim was
dressed and implying that the victim, by
wearing certain clothing, provoked the attack.
What do you think of this tactic? Is it likely to be
effective if you were a juror? Is it ethical?
TEN CHANNELS OF NONVERBAL
COMMUNICATION 7 of 11

Touch Communication

○ The Meanings of Touch

■ Emotional communication

■ Playfulness

■ Task-related touching

■ Ritual touching

■ Control

○ Touch Avoidance
TEN CHANNELS OF NONVERBAL
COMMUNICATION 8 of 11

Paralanguage
○ Voice qualities such as:

■ Stress

■ Pitch

■ Rate

■ Volume

○ Judgments About People

○ Judgments About Communication Effectiveness

TEN CHANNELS OF NONVERBAL
COMMUNICATION 9 of 11

Silence
○ Silence serves several functions:

■ To give time to think

■ To hurt

■ To lessen anxiety

■ To prevent communication

■ To communicate emotions
 THE SPIRAL OF SILENCE

Consider the operation of the spiral of silence

theory on your own communication
interactions. For example, if you were talking
with a group of new students, would you be more
likely to voice opinions that agreed with the
majority? Would you hesitate to voice opinions
that differed greatly from what the others were
expressing?
TEN CHANNELS OF NONVERBAL
COMMUNICATION 10 of 11

Time Communication

○ Psychological Time

■ Past or future orientation

○ Interpersonal Time

■ Punctuality

■ Wait time

■ Talk time

■ Relationship time

■ Response time
TEN CHANNELS OF NONVERBAL
COMMUNICATION 11 of 11

Smell Communication
○ Smell communicates several messages:

■ Attraction messages

■ Taste messages

■ Memory messages

■ Identification messages
CULTURE AND NONVERBAL
COMMUNICATION 1 of 2
L.O. 6.3

Gesture and Culture

○ There is much variation among cultures.
Facial Expression and Culture
○ People in different cultures may decode the
meanings of facial expression differently.
Eye Communication and Culture
○ Eye messages vary with both culture and
gender.
Colors and Culture
FIGURE 6.2: SOME CULTURE MEANINGS OF GESTURES
CULTURE AND NONVERBAL
COMMUNICATION 2 of 2

Touch and Culture

Paralanguage, Silence, and Culture
○ Different cultures view speech rate, silence
differently.
Time and Culture
○ The Social Clock

○ Formal and Informal Time

○ Monochronism and Polychronism

NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
COMPETENCE 1 of 2
L.O. 6.4

Encoding Skills
○ Monitor your own nonverbal messages with the
same care that you monitor your verbal messages.

○ Keep your nonverbal messages consistent with

your verbal messages.

○ Take the situation into consideration.

○ Maintain eye contact with the speaker.

○ Be careful with touching.

NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
COMPETENCE 2 of 2

Decoding Skills
○ Resist leaping to conclusions.

○ Take multiple channels into consideration.

○ Measure behaviors against a baseline.

○ Interpret your judgments and conclusions against

a cultural context.