Paralanguage: Nonverbal Communication

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Paralanguage Nonverbal Communication

• People are more frightened of being lonely than
  of being hungry, or being deprived of sleep, or
  of having their sexual needs unfulfilled (Frieda
  Fromm Reichmenn).

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Paralanguage Nonverbal Communication

• Communication by means other than language.

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Paralanguage includes

• Facial expressions
• Tones of voice
• Gestures
• Eye contact
• Spatial arrangements
• Patterns of touch
• Expressive movements
• Silence

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Paralanguage includes intentional and
unintentional nonverbal messages
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Paralanguage may be

• Complementary
• Unconscious
• Learned

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Universals and Cultural Variations

• eyebrow flash, the nose wrinkle
• basic emotions
• --happiness, sadness, disgust, fear, anger, and
  surprise

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The functions of nonverbal communication

• To repeat what was said verbally
• To complement what was said verbally
• To contradict to what was said verbally
• To substitute for what would be said verbally
• To regulate and manage the communication event

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Nonverbal communication divided into

• Kinesic and Proxemic acts
• Kinesics The study of nonverbal gestures, facial
  expressions, eye contact, and body posture
• Proxemics The study of the use of space, touch,
  and distance as features of nonverbal
  communication.

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Inborn Nonverbal Actions

• Smiling
• Crying

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Universality versus Relativism

• Birdwhistell (1970)
• Emblems are gestures understood by participant
  of a communicative community to express a
  specific meaning

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Cultural Specific Emblems

• Can you guess what the following gestures from
  Japan, France and Iran mean?

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Could reflect social status and gender

• Dominance versus subordination
• In North America
• ---more space---take less space
• ---stare at others ---less eye contact
• --- smile more-- smile less

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Dangers of overgeneralizations

• Cannot assume everybody in a culture behaves the
  same way
• Infrequent actions should not be used to
  characterize a culture
• We should not ignore that nonverbal behaviors are
  part of complex communication processes

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How do we communicate with those we dont know?

• Leonard Zunin (The First Four Minutes, 1972)
• Three common behaviours
• which side of the path look
• I acknowledge you look
• Lookaway priority

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Proxemics

• Edward, T Hall in 1963
• refers to touch and issues of personal space

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Distance Between Faces Tone of Voice
Type of Message very close (3-6")
soft whisper
top secret or sensualclose (8-12")
audible whisper very
confidential neutral (20-36") soft
voice, low volume personal
subject matter neutral (4.5-5')
full voice
non-personal information across the room
(8-20') loud voice talking to a
group stretching the limit
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All nonverbal communication is best understood
within cultural context

• Body movements
• Eye contact
• Facial expressions
• Touch

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Silence also part of nonverbal communication

• Sends nonverbal clues during communication
• Culturally determined
• Igbos of Nigeria

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Do you think that understanding nonverbal
patterns can help us identify our own
ethnocentric attitudes?