Nonverbal Behavior And Communication

First published in 1987. An attractive feature of nonverbal communication as a research area is that it has captured the interest of scholars of different disciplinary backgrounds psychologists, linguists, anthropologists, psychiatrists, and sociologists with each discipline bringing to the area its peculiar theoretical and methodological perspectives and biases. Each of these disciplines also tend to have a favorite topic or problem area within the general domain of nonverbal communication. Along with the varying yet overlapping topical concerns that the different disciplines bring to the area of nonverbal communication are major differences in methodology. The sections into which the book is divided roughly organize the chapters in terms of their concerns with the bodily structures and zones that are involved in nonverbal behavior.

This book examines state-of-the-art research and knowledge regarding nonverbal behaviour and applies that scientific knowledge to a broad range of fields. It presents a true scientist-practitioner model, blending cutting-edge behavioural science with real-world practical experience.

The use of nonverbal cues in social activities is essential for human daily activities. Successful nonverbal communication relies on the acquisition of rules of using cues from body movement, eye contact, facial expression, tone of voice, and more. As such, this book adds to our understanding of nonverbal behavior by examining state-of-the-art research efforts in the field. The book addresses the classification and training of nonverbal communication with advanced technologies, gives an overview on factors underlying the learning and evaluating of nonverbal communications in educational settings and in digital worlds, and characterizes the latest advancement that uncovers the psychological nature underlying nonverbal communication in conversations. We hope the book will reach a large audience for a variety of purposes, including students and professors in academic institutions for teaching and research activities as well as researchers in industries for the development of communication-related products, benefiting both healthy individuals and special populations.

The Nonverbal Communication Book

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SOCIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE brings to students, researchers and practitioners in all of the social and language-related sciences carefully selected book-length publications dealing with sociolinguistic theory, methods, findings and applications. It approaches the study of language in society in its broadest sense, as a truly international and interdisciplinary field in which various approaches, theoretical and empirical, supplement and complement each other. The series invites the attention of linguists, language teachers of all interests, sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists, historians etc. to the development of the sociology of language.

Even though our society subtly discourages the verbal expression of emotions, most of us, in ostensibly conforming to our roles, nevertheless manage to express likes, dislikes, status differences, personalities, as well as weaknesses in nonverbal ways. Using vocal expressions; gestures, postures, and movements, we amplify, restrict, or deny what our words say to one another, and even say some things with greater facility and efficiency than with words. In this new, multidimensional approach to the subject of nonverbal communication Albert Mehrabian brings together a great deal of original work which includes descriptions of new experimental methods that are especially suited to this field, detailed findings of studies scattered throughout the literature, and most importantly, the integration of these findings within a compact framework. The framework starts with the analysis of the meanings of various nonverbal behaviors and is based on the fact that more than half of the variance in the significance of nonverbal signals can be described in terms of the three orthogonal dimensions of positiveness, potency or status, and responsiveness. These three dimensions not only constitute the semantic space for nonverbal communication, but also help to identify groups of behaviors relating to each, to describe characteristic differences in nonverbal communication, to analyze and generate rules for the understanding of inconsistent messages, and to provide researchers with new and comprehensive measures for description of social behavior. This volume will be particularly valuable for both the professional psychologist and the graduate student in psychology. It will also be of great interest to professionals in the fields of speech and communication, sociology, anthropology, and psychiatry.

The present volume is an excellent introduction to the study of human nonverbal communication, including interaction and gesture, for students and specialists in other disciplines, as well as a convenient compilation of significant contributions to the field for experts. Part 1 includes four articles, the import of which is primarily theoretical or methodological. Part II comprises eight articles in which instances of interaction are examined and attempts are made to explain how the behavior that can be observed in them functions in the interaction process. Part III presents six articles on what may broadly be referred to as 'gesture'. These articles deal with specific actions, mostly of the forelimbs, which are usually deemed to have specific communicational significance. In an introductory chapter, the volume editor, Adam Kendon, not only examines the various issues raised by the eighteen papers but also shows the relevance of each article as a contribution to the development of an understanding of how human visible behavior functions communicatively.

First published in 1985. This book takes a multichannel perspective. The first three chapters are written from a distinctly functional perspective: the function of nonverbal behavior on interpersonal attraction, in the expression of emotions and in the control of conversations. They are followed by two topically organized chapters, namely, the role of nonverbal behavior in interpersonal expectancies and deceptive communications. They, in turn, are followed by a process-oriented discussion of the nature of nonverbal behavior. The book concludes with two contributions concerned with the demography of nonverbal behavior: the role of gender, class, and ethnicity (with the latter viewed from a cultural perspective). In each case, however, the chapter is organized, to the extent possible, from a multichannel perspective.