PSY 3121 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Nonverbal Communication, Fidgeting, Kinesics
16 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
PSY3121A Dr. Mary-Theresa Howard
Verbal Communication 14.05.18
Language is only a set of symbols; only 20% of our communication is done verbally
Communication Styles
1) Passive (nonaggressive) – allow people to be right and let ppl step over you, violate your own rights
2) Aggressive – fore our opiio, iolate ppl’s rights
3) Assertiveness – based on humanistic values; Self-epressio here oe stads up for oe’s rights /o deig
or violating the rights of others
• Interact in a caring, active, non-judgmental way
Nonverbal Communication – 80% of communication
Women and men differ in nonverbal communication; Politics of gender – symbolize unequal power
• Women tend to claim less territory when standing – smaller body mass; e ted to itrude o other’s
space and do not like other people in their space uninvited
• women stand closer to another woman in conversation; men keep their distance, do’t like eig
crowded (terriority/power issue)
• women use more eye contact and prefer more eye contact; men use eye contact as a sign of intimacy
• women use more facial expressions and tend to be more expressive innately than men do
• women are more likely to return a smile when smiled at; men have rough exterior
• women stand farther away from loud speakers; men keep the same distance
• women use less hand gestures than men; men use more gestures in social situations
• women tend to sit with their legs/knees/ankles crossed and at an angle; man spread = men tend to sit
with their legs apart or outstretched
• women play with their hair more and keep their hands on their lap; men have sweeping arm movements
and hand gestures
• a oe does’t osiderig touhig aother oa or a i a seual otet; e ill touh i a
sexual context
Categories of Nonverbal Communication
Kinesics – study of movement, posture, and gestures
• 4 stages of quasi-courtship behavior:
o courtship readiness – stomach in, up shoulders and muscles
o preening behaviors – comb hair, grooming to look good
o positional cues – position yourself to be noticed, where they stand in the room
o invitation – proximity, open body positions, eye contact
• warm people – face directly, smile more, eye contact, fidget less, less unnecessary hand movements
• cold people – make less eye contact, smile less, fidget more, turn away from people
• posture and orientation – open (uncrossed arms and legs) – receptive and responsive listeners; closed –
turned away
o Mehrabian (1972) – open arm and body postures, lean fwd, relaxed posture indicates liking
Eye Contact
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Language is only a set of symbols; only 20% of our communication is done verbally. Kinesics study of movement, posture, and gestures. Functions cognitive by giving information to others and allow them to thought process, monitoring others (cid:271)eha(cid:448)iors, regulator(cid:455) as po(cid:449)erful (cid:272)ues (so(cid:373)e (cid:272)ultures do(cid:374)"t allo(cid:449) (cid:449)o(cid:373)e(cid:374) to (cid:373)ake e(cid:455)e (cid:272)o(cid:374)ta(cid:272)t with men), the eyes and facial muscles are expressive. Facial expression women are better at expressing what others are feeling through facial expressions: betray the true emotion i. e person is talking about their bad day with a smile. Interpretation is difficult b/c of ppl learn how to control their facial expressions: need other-orientation skills for accurate interpretation know yourself and others, what they might be thinking, feeling, believing. Ppl can produce 250 000 different emotions on a face. Primary expressions surprised, fear, disgust, anger, happiness, sadness. Smiling and laughing considered to be part of happiness. Paralanguage includes pitch, rate, volume, silence; voice is primary tool in communication information.
