NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION

OBJECTIVES

• Define the term non-verbal communication and its concepts

• Explain the nature of non-verbal behaviors

• Illustrate non-verbal behaviors

• Differentiate the three primary elements of non-verbal communication

• Identify categories/dimensions of non-verbal behaviors

• Synthesize the universal elements of non-verbal communication

Nonverbal Communication

• “Nonverbal communication is the transfer of meaningful information from one person to another by means other than written or spoken language.”

Vaughan & Hogg (1998)

Categories of Nonverbal Communication

• Sign language – includes all those codes in which numbers, words, and punctuation signs have been supplanted or replaced by gestures

• Action language – encompasses all movements that are not used exclusively as signals.

• Object language – embraces all intentional and non-intentional display of material things, such as art objects, implements, machines, architectural structures, and the human body and whatever clothes it.

DIMENSIONS of NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION

1. Body motion or kinesics2. Physical characteristics3. Touching behavior or haptics4. Paralanguage5. Proxemics6. Artifacts7. Environmental factors

Knapp (1972)

DIMENSIONS of NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION1. Body communication

* gestural communication* facial communication* eye communication* touch communication

2. Space communication* Proxemics* Territoriality * Aesthetics and colors

3. Silence, paralanguage, and temporal communication* silence* paralanguage* time

Joseph de Vito (1986)

Principles of Nonverbal Messages1. Nonverbal communication, like verbal

communication, is contextual. 2. Nonverbal behaviors are wholes not parts or

segments. 3. Nonverbal behaviors always communicate. 4. Nonverbal communication follows certain rules. 5. Nonverbal communication is motivated. 6. Nonverbal communication is more credible than

verbal behavior. 7. Nonverbal communication often refers to other

communications.

Joseph de Vito’s Universals of Nonverbal Messages

Nonverbal Universal Principle

Contextual Nonverbal communication cannot be isolated from its context.

Packaged Nonverbal behaviors occur in clusters; usually consistent with other nonverbal and verbal meanings.

Communicative All nonverbal behaviors send a message.

Rule-governed It follows rules embedded in culture.

Motivated All nonverbal behaviors occur with some reason, identifiable or not.

Credible Nonverbal cues are more highly believable than verbal ones.

Metacommunicational It refers or comments on verbal and other nonverbal messages, by reinforcing or contradicting.

Categories of Nonverbal Communication

1. Body Motion or Kinesic Behavior (moving/dynamic)a) Emblems - nonverbal acts which correspond to a direct verbal translation or dictionary definitionb) Illustrators – nonverbal acts that accompany speechc) Affect Displays – verbal affective statements or messages can be repeatedd) Regulators – head nods and eye movementse) Adaptors – most difficult to define because we are generally unaware of it

2. Physical Characteristics (non-moving or static)3. Touching Behavior (Haptics)

Categories of Nonverbal Communication

4. Paralanguagea) Voice qualities – pitch range, pitch control, rhythm, control, tempo, articulation control, resonance, glottis control, vocal lip controlb) Vocalizations – vocal characterizers, vocal qualifiers, vocal segregates

5. Proxemics6. Artifacts7. Environmental factors

• “Public distance” – Edward T. Hall• Classification of interhuman distance according

to Gronbeck et al. (1994)a) Intimate distance ranges from up to 1 ½ feetb) Personal distance – ranges from 1 ½ to 4 feetc) Social distance – ranges from 4 to 12 feetd) Public distance – ranges from 12 feet up

Functions of Nonverbal Communication

1. Repeating 2. Contradicting3. Substituting4. Complementing5. Accenting6. Relating and Regulating