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

•ExplicitSAID

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 temple suicide• Hand grasping throat choke• 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 questionsyes no maybe I don’t know

physical state

emotiontriumphant angrysad

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 actsthat maintain and regulate

the interactions between two or more participants.

Regulators 2

• They can tell the speaker to:continuehurry upbecome more interestingexplainlet the other talk

Turn-taking regulators

(the most studied kind)Head tiltingNodsEye 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 arrangementsspatial 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

clotheslipstick

false eyelasheswigsperfume

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.