Many of us subconsciously click pens, shake our legs, or engage in other adaptors during classes, meetings, or while waiting as a way to do something with our excess energy. US Americans typically shift eye contact while speaking—looking away from the listener and then looking back at his or her face every few seconds. If two people held up their arms and stood so just the tips of their fingers were touching, they would be around four feet away from each other, which is perceived as a safe distance because the possibility for intentional or unintentional touching doesn’t exist. While passengers have long been subject to pat-downs if they set off the metal detector or arouse suspicion, recently foiled terrorist plots have made passenger screening more personal. A hitchhiker’s raised thumb, the “OK” sign with thumb and index finger connected in a circle with the other three fingers sticking up, and the raised middle finger are all examples of emblems that have an agreed-on meaning or meanings with a culture. The “shoe bomber” led to mandatory shoe removal and screening, and the more recent use of nonmetallic explosives hidden in clothing or in body cavities led to the use of body scanners that can see through clothing to check for concealed objects (Thomas, 2011). Even though we are getting closer to the physical body of another person, we may use verbal communication at this point to signal that our presence in this zone is friendly and not intimate. In both cases, these changes definitely impacted how others perceived me. I’m sure we’ve all been in that awkward situation where a teacher asks a question, no one else offers a response, and he or she looks directly at us as if to say, “What do you think?” In that case, the teacher’s eye contact is used to cue us to respond. Much of our communication occurs in the personal zone, which is what we typically think of as our “personal space bubble” and extends from 1.5 feet to 4 feet away from our body. Consider your preferences for hair-style, clothing, jewelry, and automobiles, as well the way you maintain your body. Verbal vs. Non-Verbal Communication We communicate with much more than words: when we interact with someone, our body has a language of its own. Paralanguage is the exception to the definition of nonverbal communication. More recently, 3-D holographic avatars have been put to work helping travelers at airports in Paris and New York (Strunksy, 2012; Tecca, 2012). What is Nonverbal Communication in Business? I think of this type of hug as the “slow-dance hug.” The engulfing hug is similar to a bear hug in that one person completely wraps the arms around the other as that person basically stands there. Specifically, this section will outline the use of gestures, head movements and posture, eye contact, and facial expressions as nonverbal communication. When the elbows are pointed out, this prevents others from getting past us as easily and is a sign of attempted dominance or a gesture that says we’re ready for action. When someone else takes a student’s regular desk, she or he is typically annoyed. When the slap is more of a tap, it is actually an indication that one person wants to let go. Avatars can be created in the likeness of humans, animals, aliens, or other nonhuman creatures (Allmendinger, 2010). A handshake, a pat on the arm, and a pat on the shoulder are examples of social-polite touching. Appearance has been noted as one of the most important attributes of an avatar designed to influence or motivate. We also learn that greetings have a rising emphasis and farewells have falling emphasis. At the friendship-warmth level, touch is more important and more ambiguous than at the social-polite level. At the love-intimacy level, touch is more personal and is typically only exchanged between significant others, such as best friends, close family members, and romantic partners. This can become even more pronounced when we consider that some users, especially of online role-playing games, spend about twenty hours a week as their avatar. One of my interpersonal communication professors admitted that she enjoyed going to restaurants to observe “first-date behavior” and boasted that she could predict whether or not there was going to be a second date based on the couple’s nonverbal communication. EXERCISES Do a … To better understand how proxemics functions in nonverbal communication, we will more closely examine the proxemic distances associated with personal space and the concept of territoriality. A louder voice is usually thought of as more intense, although a soft voice combined with a certain tone and facial expression can be just as intense. Unexpected breaches of personal space can lead to negative reactions, especially if we feel someone has violated our space voluntarily, meaning that a crowding situation didn’t force them into our space. Avoid filler words. Provide an example of how chronemics sends nonverbal messages in academic settings, professional settings, and personal settings. In summary, people have the ability to self-select physical characteristics and personal presentation for their avatars in a way that they can’t in their real life. Perhaps you’ve also heard of a pregnant pause, a silence between v… Verbal fillers such as “um,” “uh,” “like,” and “ah” are common in regular conversation and are not typically disruptive. In high school, at the height of the “thrift store” craze, I started wearing clothes from the local thrift store daily. As Chapter 2 “Communication and Perception” noted, these characteristics play a large role in initial impression formation even though we know we “shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.” Although ideals of attractiveness vary among cultures and individuals, research consistently indicates that people who are deemed attractive based on physical characteristics have distinct advantages in many aspects of life. In this hugging behavior, the handshake that is maintained between the chests minimizes physical closeness and the intimacy that may be interpreted from the crisscross or engulfing hug where the majority of the huggers’ torsos are touching. Even though you may think that this type of hug doesn’t communicate emotions, it definitely does. We’ve already learned that conversational turns and turn-taking patterns are influenced by social norms and help our conversations progress. Whether they are a public figure like President Bill Clinton, a celebrity like Snooki from the Jersey Shore, or a fictional character like Peter Griffin from Family Guy, some people’s voices stick with us and make a favorable or unfavorable impression. Just as verbal language is broken up into various categories, there are also different types of nonverbal communication. A handshake is actually an abbreviated hand-holding gesture, but we know that prolonged hand-holding would be considered too intimate and therefore inappropriate at the functional-professional or social-polite level. Pease, A. and Barbara Pease, The Definitive Book of Body Language (New York, NY: Bantam, 2004), 121. Whether a person has a part in their hair, a mohawk, faux-hawk, ponytail, curls, or bright pink hair also sends nonverbal signals to others. Hair also sends messages whether it is on our heads or our bodies. When archers were captured, their enemies would often cut off these two fingers, which was seen as the ultimate insult and worse than being executed since the archer could no longer shoot his bow and arrow. At the social-polite level, socially sanctioned touching behaviors help initiate interactions and show that others are included and respected. To avoid this type of situation, people use a variety of objects that are typically recognized by others as nonverbal cues that mark a place as temporarily reserved—for example, jackets, bags, papers, or a drink. We all know how annoying it can be when a person dominates a conversation or when we can’t get a person to contribute anything. There are three main types of gestures: adaptors, emblems, and illustrators (Andersen, 1999). Every day, we respond to thousands on nonverbal cues and behaviors including postures , facial expression, eye gaze, gestures, and tone of voice. An innate and universal head movement is the headshake back and forth to signal “no.” This nonverbal signal begins at birth, even before a baby has the ability to know that it has a corresponding meaning. Although this level of touch is not sexual, it does enhance feelings of closeness and intimacy and can lead to sexual-arousal touch, which is the most intimate form of touch, as it is intended to physically stimulate another person. This is the least personal of the four zones and would typically be used when a person is engaging in a formal speech and is removed from the audience to allow the audience to see or when a high-profile or powerful person like a celebrity or executive maintains such a distance as a sign of power or for safety and security reasons. These spaces are known as our primary territories because they are marked or understood to be exclusively ours and under our control. This fact, along with media images that project often unrealistic ideals of beauty, have contributed to booming health and beauty, dieting, gym, and plastic surgery industries. Kinesics refers to body movements and posture and includes the following components: Allmendinger, K., “Social Presence in Synchronous Virtual Learning Situations: The Role of Nonverbal Signals Displayed by Avatars,” Educational Psychology Review 22, no. Head movements such as nodding can indicate agreement, disagreement, and interest, among other things. When students have more personal information to discuss, they will come closer, which brings them into the inner part of the social zone. There are several types of touch, including functional-professional, social-polite, friendship-warmth, love-intimacy, and sexual-arousal touch (Heslin & Apler, 1983). 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