Nonverbal Communication: Vocal Cues, Body Language, and Physical Space PDF

VOCAL CUES OR PARALANGUAGE ​ PITCH ​ RATE ​ TONE ​ VOLUME ​ RHYTHM ​ SILENCE Vocal Cues - sound or inflection of the voice used to send a particular message. ​ Ex. Sigh, clearing throat, mhm, whistle ​ used to get a person's attention; other times they are used to warn some...

VOCAL CUES OR PARALANGUAGE ​ PITCH ​ RATE ​ TONE ​ VOLUME ​ RHYTHM ​ SILENCE Vocal Cues - sound or inflection of the voice used to send a particular message. ​ Ex. Sigh, clearing throat, mhm, whistle ​ used to get a person's attention; other times they are used to warn someone of danger or to send a message of appreciation to a lover. ​ Nonverbal ○​ Sounds, Expressions, Tones Individual Factors ​ Vocal Fillers - nonlinguistic verbalization ( uhh, umm, like..) ​ Indigenous throat singing Touch ​ Hepatics ○​ Meanings of touch ​ Functional - nursing assessment, haircut ​ Social - handshake, social greeting ​ Friendship - tap on the back, ​ Interest - intimacy like a kiss ​ Aggression - a shove or slap Physical Space ​ Proxemics - study of physical distance and its influence on human interactions ○​ amount of space existing between people when communicating can reveal the nature of the relationship ○​ Intimate space ○​ Personal space ○​ Social space - normal ○​ Public space  ​ Territoriality - ○​ Primary territory - person's personal belongings ○​ Secondary territory - doesn’t directly belong to but is associated with someone, people do not have direct control over it but have indirect ownership ​ Where we sit in class (don't own the seat but still occupy) ○​ Public territory - belongs to no one yet. Yet, people somehow take ownership of the little time they spend there. ​ putting coat on seat in restaurant to “save it” ​ Environment - physical environment around you can either make communication that much easier or downright difficult. ○​ Lighting ○​ Seating ○​ Hard vs Soft Surfaces ​ Movie theater seats ○​ Background Noise Levels Background Noise Interferes with Communication 1.​ Can be a distraction, especially if it’s something that arouses curiosity 2.​ Hearing becomes increasingly difficult as ambient noise levels increase Receiving/interpreting message 1.​ Look at person 2.​ Pay attention to body language 3.​ Avoid distractions 4.​ Nod and smile 5.​ Think back to what the person has said 6.​ Allow the person to speak without thinking of what you'll say next 7.​ Don't interrupt 4.1 ​ Nonverbal communication is a process of generating meaning using behaviour other than words. Nonverbal communication includes vocal elements, referred to as paralanguage and pitch, volume, and rate, and nonvocal elements, usually referred to as body language, including gestures, facial expressions, and eye contact, among other things.  ​ Nonverbal communication serves several functions: Nonverbal communication affects verbal communication in that it can complement, substitute, contradict, accentuate, repeat, and regulate. ​ Nonverbal communication regulates the conversational flow, providing essential cues that signal the beginning and end of conversational turns and facilitate the beginning and end of an interaction. ​ Nonverbal communication affects relationships, as it is a primary means through which we communicate emotions, establish social bonds, and engage in relational maintenance. ​ Nonverbal communication expresses our identities, as who we are is conveyed through how we set up our living and working spaces, the clothes we wear, our presentation, and the tones in our voices. 4.2 ​ Kinesics refers to body movements and posture and includes the following components: ○​ Gestures are arm and hand movements and include adaptors such as clicking a pen or scratching your face, emblems such as a thumbs-up to say “OK,” and illustrators such as bouncing your hand along with the rhythm of your speech. ○​ Head movements and posture include the orientation of movements of our head, the orientation and positioning of our body, and the various meanings this sends. Head movements such as nodding indicate agreement, disagreement, and interest, among other things. Posture can indicate assertiveness, defensiveness, interest, readiness, or intimidation, among other things. ○​ Eye contact is studied under the category of oculesics and refers explicitly to eye contact with another person’s face, head, and eyes, and the patterns of looking away and back at the other person during the interaction. Eye contact provides turn-taking signals, indicates that we are engaged in cognitive activity, and helps establish rapport and connection, among other things. ○​ Facial expressions refer to using the forehead, brow, and facial muscles around the nose and mouth to convey meaning. Facial expressions can convey happiness, sadness, fear, anger, and other emotions. ​ Haptics refers to touch behaviours that convey meaning during interactions. Touch operates at many levels, including functional–professional, social–polite, friendship–warmth, and love–intimacy. ​ Vocalics refers to the vocalized but not verbal aspects of nonverbal communication, including our speaking rate, pitch, volume, tone of voice, and vocal quality. These  qualities reinforce the meaning of verbal communication, allow us to emphasize particular parts of a message, or can contradict verbal messages. ​ Proxemics refers to the use of space and distance within communication. North Americans, in general, have four spaces that constitute our personal space: public space (3-4 metres/12 feet or more from our body), social space (around 1 to 4 metres/4–12 feet from our body), personal space (half a metre to a metre/1.5–4 feet from our body), and intimate space (from body contact to half a metre/1.5 feet away). Proxemics also studies territoriality, or how people take up and defend personal space. ​ Chronemics refers to the study of how time affects communication. It includes how different time cycles affect our communication, including differences between past- or future-oriented people and cultural perspectives on time as fixed and measured (monochronic) or fluid and adaptable (polychronic). ​ Personal presentation and environment refer to how the objects we adorn ourselves and our surroundings (artifacts) provide nonverbal cues from which others make meaning and how our physical environment — for example, the layout of a room and seating positions and arrangements — influences communication. 4.3 ​ To improve your competence in encoding nonverbal messages, increase your awareness of the messages you are sending and receiving and the contexts in which your communication occurs. Since nonverbal communication is multichannel, it is essential to know that nonverbal cues can complement, enhance, or contradict each other. Also, realize that the norms and expectations for sending nonverbal messages, especially touch and personal space, vary widely between relational and professional contexts. ​ To improve your competence in decoding nonverbal messages, look for multiple cues, avoid putting too much weight on any one cue, and evaluate nonverbal messages in relation to the context and your previous experiences with the other person. Although we put more weight on nonverbal communication than verbal when trying to detect deception, no set guide can tell us whether another person is being deceptive.