Psychology 2720A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Freisen, Nonverbal Communication, Neuron

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2720A/B
• Professor: Joel Armstrong

Document Summary

Social perception: the study of how we form impressions of other people and make inferences about them. Nonverbal communication: the way in which people communicate, intentionally or unintentionally, without words; nonverbal cues include facial expressions, body position and movement, gestures, tone of voice, the use of touch, and eye gaze. Humans and primates have a special kind of brain cell called mirror neurons respond when we perform an action and when we see someone else perform the same action. Encode: to express or emit nonverbal behavior, such as smiling or patting someone on the back. Decode: to interpret the meaning of the nonverbal behavior other people express, such as deciding that a pat on the back was an expression of condescension and not kindness. Nonverbal forms of communication are species-specific (darwin) facial expressions are universal. Eckman and freisen 6 major emotions: anger, fear, disgust, happiness, surprise and sadness.