PSYC 215 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Eye Contact, Fritz Heider, Nonverbal Communication

• School: McGill University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 215
• Professor: Michael Sullivan

Document Summary

Lecture 8 & 9 ch 4: social perception. Defined as the study of how we form impressions of other people and make inferences about them. An important source of information about other people is their nonverbal behaviour: nonverbal behaviour. Nonverbal communication: the way in which people communicate, intentionally or unintentionally, without words. Nonverbal cues: include facial expressions, tone of voice, gestures, body position and movement, the use of touch, and eye gaze. Primary uses: expressing emotion, conveying attitudes, communicating personality, substitution for verbal messages. Facial expressions are the most significant channel of nonverbal communication. Charles darwin believed that the primary emotions conveyed by the face are universal. Cross-cultural research by ekman and his colleagues support that universality of at least 6 facial expressions of emotion: anger, happiness, surprise, fear, disgust, and sadness, contempt and other have since been added to the list. Other researchers question the universal recognition of the basic facial expressions of emotion (e. g. , russell et al. , 1993)