2.2 Introduction to Nonverbal Communication

Have you ever tried to conceal your surprise, suppress your anger, or act joyfully even when you were not? For most common people whose career does not involve a lot of acting or manipulation, it may be quite difficult to control or suppress these feelings. Contrary to common belief, some studies have claimed that 90 percent of our meaning system is derived from nonverbal signals, but more recent and reliable findings claim that it is closer to 65 percent. This powerful kind of communication, which is involuntary and somehow arbitrary in most cases, is often referred to as nonverbal communication.

2.2.1 Definition of NonverbaI Communication

Unlike verbal communication, which is mostly transmitted through sounds and picked up by our ears, nonverbal communication involves all five of our senses. To understand nonverbal communication further, we need to distinguish between the vocal and verbal aspects of communication first. The vocal element of verbal communication is the words spoken—for example, “Come back here.” Yet, the way these words are spoken, which is the vocalized but not verbal part of a spoken message, such as speaking rate, volume, and pitch, falls into the range of nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication includes both vocal and non-vocal elements. The non-vocal elements of nonverbal communication commonly refer to body language such as gestures, facial expressions, and eye contact. Further difference between the vocal and non-vocal elements of communication can be seen in Table 2.1. To sum up, nonverbal communication is the process of generating meaning using behavior other than words. As we learn about each type of nonverbal signals, keep in mind that nonverbal cues often work in concert with each other, combining to repeat, modify, or contradict the verbal message being sent.

2.2.2 Major Types and Main Features of Nonverbal Communication

1) Paralanguage

The study of the vocal elements in communication is called paralanguage. We all know that voices vary in their vocal elements such as pitch, volume, rate, tone, and verbal fillers, but what you might not know is that these elements provide important context for the verbal content of speech. They can help communicate the intensity of a message. For example, a louder voice is usually thought of as more intense, same as a higher pitch. Vocal elements can also lead others to form impressions about the speaker's emotional state, credibility, and intelligence. For instance, a slow speaker could bore others and lead their attention to wander while a fast delivery can also distract the audience from the message, as it may be too difficult to follow the speaker. A more detailed connection between acoustic elements and various emotions can be seen in Table 2.2.

Even verbal fillers, such as “um, ” “like, ” and “ah” can help a person “keep the floor” during a conversation if they need to pause for a moment to think before continuing with verbal communication. You might have heard about the rumor that the use of verbal fillers such as “like” or “you know” can make your English sounds more like native speakers. This is true to some extent, because the use of verbal fillers are sometimes called upon as necessary redundancy in the English speaking world to help avoid the awkward silence of having nothing to say in between of thoughts. However, overuse of such expressions might indicate that the speaker is poorly educated and not fluent in thinking and speaking.

The way people perceive different vocal cues and further interpret the personality types associated with it is a very interesting topic to dwell on. There are even some stereotypes depicted in this area, as it is shown in Table 2.3. Generally speaking, many people typically perceive nasal voices negatively and assign negative personality characteristics to them. On the other hand, we generally find voices that employ vocal variety and are not monotone, lower pitched (particularly for males), and do not exhibit particular regional accents much more pleasing. Like the use of verbal fillers, there is no one-size-fits-all rule to follow or fixed sample to mimic when it comes to real communication. A voice at a low volume or a whisper is more appropriate when sending a covert message or flirting with a romantic partner, but it would not enhance a person's credibility if used during a professional presentation. It is important to adjust these features based on specific settings such as the relationship between the speakers.

2) Kinesics

Kinesics means the study of hand, arm, body, and face movements. Gestures are probably the most commonly recognized cues of all body language. If the gestures used have a specific agreed-on meaning, they are referred to as emblems, such as the thumbs up sign. Of course, the meanings of emblems are not agreed on universally. As long as their meanings can be interpreted within an area, they are qualified as emblems of a certain kind. On the contrary, if the gestures do not typically have meanings of their own and are used more subconsciously to illustrate the verbal message they accompany, they are known as illustrators. For example, a lot of us use hand gestures to indicate the size or shape of an object while describing it.

It is common to find that many of us subconsciously click pens, or shake our legs, fiddle with phones or engaging in some self-touching behaviors like scratching, twirling hair, or fidgeting with fingers or hands during classes, meetings, or while waiting. These gestures are called as adaptors because they help to ease part of the tension resulting from uneasiness, anxiety, or a general sense that we are not in control of our surroundings. Most of the adaptors happen unconsciously, but it does not mean that we cannot use it to our advantage. If you have trouble dealing with the pressure in public speaking occasions, carry a bottle of water or a pen in your hand and twirl it slightly when you feel stressful rather than twirling your hair or clothes, which may be perceived as inappropriate in public. You will find the latter very helpful in making your speech smooth and fluent.

3) Haptics

The study of touch is often referred to as haptics. Touch can be welcoming, threatening, or persuasive. Think of how the touch of a friend or family has the power to comfort us in moments of sorrow when words alone cannot. Now, change the person who touches you to a total stranger. This positive power of touch is very likely to be countered by the risk of it turning into threats due to its connection to sex and violence. However, if the stranger is a doctor or tailor, your feeling could be entirely different. Why is that? There are several types of touch, including functional-professional, social-polite, friendship-warmth, and love-intimacy. For example, barbers, doctors, and security screeners touch us in ways related to a goal or part of a routine professional interaction, which makes it less threatening and more expected. On the other hand, a handshake and a pat on the shoulder are examples of touch at the social-polite level to help initiate interactions and show that others are included and respected.

Touch can also serve a relational maintenance purpose and communicate the 3Cs: closeness, care, and concern. Touching faces, holding hands, and full frontal embraces are examples of touch exchanged between significant others, such as best friends, close family members, and romantic partners. The types of touching on this level also vary greatly. Do not rush into any kind of touch of intimacy before negotiating comfort level of both parties to avoid ambiguity,or you will find yourself in great trouble before you know it.

4) Chronemics

Even time can influence communication. We refer to the study of time as chronemics. Time can be classified into several different categories, including biological, personal, physical, and cultural time. Biological time affects us when our natural rhythms are disturbed by all-nighters, jet lag, or other scheduling abnormalities. As a result, our physical and mental health and our communication competence and personal relationships may suffer. Think about how quickly time passes when you are doing something interesting. How we experience time based on our mood or interest level is how we perceive personal time. Nothing could better capture the essence of personal time than Albert Einstein's famous explanation of the term “Relativity”: Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That is relativity.

Besides, an individual's perception of time also varies based on whether this person is future or past oriented. People with past-time orientations may want to reminisce about the past, reunite with old friends, and put considerable time into preserving memories in scrapbooks and photo albums. On the contrary, people with future-time orientations may spend the same amount of time making career and personal plans, writing out to-do lists, or researching future vacations, potential retirement spots, or what book they are going to read next.

5) Proxemics

When we are content with and attracted to someone, we say we are “close” to him or her. When we lose connection with someone, we may say he or she is “distant.” That is a clue to show space influences how people communicate and behave. The study of such distance is called proxemics. The amount of space we maintain between each other during communication is the major sign to show how we feel towards the other party at that particular time.

Take the Americans for instance. Scholars have identified four zones for the American people, which are public, social, personal, and intimate distance. Touching to eighteen inches means intimate, which is appropriate for closest friends, families, and romantic partners, and indicates closeness and trust. Eighteen inches to four feet is personal, which means still close but keeps another “at arm's length” for most of our friends or acquaintances. Four to twelve feet is social, which is used for the kind of communication that occurs in professional or casual interaction. While more than twelve feet is considered as public, which occurs in situations where two-way communication is not desirable or possible such as engaging in formal speech.

Group Work

Compare the distance of the four communication zones for Americans and that for Chinese to see if there is a difference. Discuss with your partners to see which country is more “close”as far as personal relationship goes and why.

The way Americans perceive proxemic zones of personal space is very different from the Chinese. As you can see in Table 2.4, there are some clear distinctions between those cultures. Different with common belief, the distance between the Chinese concerning social counteractions is actually closer than between the Americans especially when it comes to social and public zones as demonstrated in the following table. However, it is important to point out that, as the US population grows ever more ethnically diverse, any broad label would probably be an oversimplification.

As you can see nonverbal communication is a powerful tool, it is not simply what we say that is important. Although we are never explicitly taught how to use body language, we learn them through observation and practice as we grow up and we do it automatically. It is fair to say that nonverbal communication is primarily biologically based while verbal communication is mostly culturally based. For example, some nonverbal communication has the same meaning across cultures, such as palms up to show your openness, it is like saying“Look, I have nothing to hide” while no verbal communication systems share that same universal recognition. Everything from pitch to volume, eye contact to facial expressions, gestures to handshakes or even clothing and distance says something to others. In a word, you are speaking to everyone even when you do not say a word.

Exercises

1. Choose the best answer from the following choices.

1) What does paralanguage study?

A. Vocal elements.

B. Gestures.

C. Space.

D. Time.

2) According to most scholars, how much of our meaning is derived from nonverbal signals?

A. 25%.

B. 45%.

C. 65%.

D. 85%.

3) What do emblems usually refer?

A. Gestures that help to ease part of the tension resulting from uneasiness, anxiety, etc.

B. Gestures that are used more subconsciously to illustrate the verbal message they accompany.

C. Gestures that usually have a specific agreed-on meaning.

D. The study of hand, arm, body, and face movements.

4) Which kind of time is it that dominates how we experience time based on our mood or interest level?

A. Biological time.

B. Personal time.

C. Physical time.

D. Cultural time.

5) Which is the distance Chinese maintain in terms of public relationships such as the students and the teachers?

A. Less than 100 cm.

B. Less than 150 cm.

C. More than 250 cm.

D. More than 360 cm.

2. Fill in the blanks with the key points.

1) Nonverbal communication is a process of generating meaning using behavior other than____________.

2) People generally perceive ____________ negatively and assign negative personality characteristics to them.

3) Touches are usually classified into the following four types: functional-professional, social-polite, ____________, and love-intimacy.

4) People with ____________ may spend the same amount of time making career and personal plans, writing out to-do lists.

5) ____________ means the distance people maintain to stay close but keeps another “at arm's length” for most of our friends or acquaintances.

3. Finish the following tasks with your own understanding.

1) Make a survey in your class to find out at least five kinds of common verbal fillers your classmates like to use.

2) List some of the common adapters you would normally use to ease anxiety. Make some adaptation to the ones that are not appropriate to do during social interactions.