NON VERBAL

COMMUNICATION Human
communication

[CHAPTER 6(B)]
SM003

-WEEK 7-
 Understanding Non verbal Communication
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc2yRqat7q8

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 IV. SPATIAL MESSAGES

1) Proxemic Distances: Edward Hall distinguishes

four distances that define the type of relationships
between people.
 The specific distances you maintain between
yourself and others depends on a variety of factors
including cultural and gender socialization, age,
and personality.

For example:
1) Between you and your boss – there is a
‘professional’ boundary.
2) Between you and your friend – more casual
approach.
3) Male to female – less intimacy compared to same3
 IV. SPATIAL MESSAGES

 4 Proxemic Distances:
 intimate: touching (0 inches) to 18 inches; for
comforting and protecting.
 personal: 18 inches to 4 feet; the protective
bubble most people keep around them; keeps
you protected and untouched by others
 social: 4 feet to 12 feet; the space in which we
conduct business or participate in social
interaction
 public: 12 feet to 25 feet; the space we usually
keep between and strangers or others we view
as potentially harmful
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IV. SPATIAL MESSAGES

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 IV. SPATIAL MESSAGES

 2) Territoriality:the possessive reaction to an

area or to particular objects. We interact in
three types of territories:
 primary territories : areas you call your own; your desk,
your room, your of fice; places where we take a leadership
role or where we have an interpersonal advantage (the
home field advantage)
 secondary territories : areas that don’t belong to you but
which you have occupied and with which you may be
associated; your regular seat in a classroom , your regular
table in the cafeteria
 public territories : areas open to all people ; movie houses,
restaurants, shopping malls

- High and Low Ambiguity examples – status, power, 6

dominance
 IV. SPATIAL MESSAGES

 We designate our primary and secondary territories

with 3 types of markers. Markers give us feelings of
belonging and may also serve as status cues to others:
 central markers: items placed to reserve a territory ,
e.g., leaving your books on your desk, placing your coat
on the back of a chair in the library
 boundary markers: set boundaries between your
territory and that of others, such as the armrests
separating your seat from those of the people on either
side at a movie theater.
 ear markers: identifying marks that indicate your
possession of a territory or object , such as name
plates, bookplates, trademarks, gang signs …

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 V. ARTIFACTUAL COMMUNICATION

 Artifactual Communication : messages that are

human-made
 Color Communication – evidence suggests that
colors may influence our psychology and surely
influences our perceptions and behaviors
 Clothing and Body Adornment – people make
inferences about who you are by the way you
dress, the kind of jewelry you wear, the way you
style your hair, your body piercings, and your
tattoos

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 V. ARTIFACTUAL COMMUNICATION

 Space Decoration – people make inferences

about you based on how you decorate your
private spaces (e.g., your home, your of fice)
How you decorate your private spaces
communicates who you are.

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 VI. SMELL COMMUNICATION

 Smell Communication ( Olfactics/Olfactory) –

communication through odor; odors contribute to our
perceptions of health, alertness, awareness, relaxation,
etc.
 Attraction messages: odors (perfumes, lotions, after
shaves, powders) used to enhance attractiveness.
 Taste: non-verbal cues like smells compliments senses
like taste – imagine eating hot chicken soup without the
smell!
 Memory: Olfactory cues are used to trigger memories or
significant events or experiences in our minds.
 Identification messages: odors used to create an image
or an identity, such as the distinctive smell of certain
cleaning products.

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 VII. TOUCH COMMUNICATION
(HAPTICS)
 The communicative through touch and touching
behavior is perhaps the most primitive form of
nonverbal communication;
 it develops before our other senses ; it begins in the
womb

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 VII. TOUCH COMMUNICATION
(HAPTICS)
 The Meanings of Touch : touch conveys：
 positive emotions (support, appreciation, inclusions,
af fection)
 playfulness (af fectionately or aggressively)
 control (directing others to pay attention to something
or someone)
 ritual (shaking hands, hugging)
 task-relatedness (helping someone out of a car)

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 VII. TOUCH COMMUNICATION
(HAPTICS)
 Example:

Touching someone’s back (girls normally).

Too high (closer to the upper body) = Friends

Too low (closer to butt) = You are being impolite
Middle = asking for dance, etc.
VII. Touch Communication (Haptics)

 Touch Avoidance - our desire to avoid touching and

being touched by certain people or in certain
circumstances; touch avoidance is positively related to
communication apprehension and is also af fected by
age and gender.

For example:
‘Professional’ relationships – boss & employees?
Not-so-close friends?
Awkward situations and locations – in hospitals, exam
halls?

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 VIII. PARALANGUAGE

 Paralanguage - the vocal, nonverbal dimension of

speech; volume, rate, pitch, accent, vocalizations such
as moaning, belching, yawning, etc.
 judgments about people: we make judgments about
others; example: yawning (are you bored?)
 People tend to agree more with people who speak with
paralanguage cues – provided if it is in the same
language.
 judgments about communication ef fectiveness : we
generally perceive people as more ef fective and
persuasive communicators if they speak at a rapid
speech rate

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 IX. SILENCE

Silence communicates just as intensely as

anything you verbalize
Functions of silence:
 to allow for time to think before responding
 can be used as a weapon to hurt others; ‘silent’
treatment or ‘cold’ war.
 as a respond to threats, a way to deal with
personal anxiety or shyness
 to prevent communication of certain messages
 as a means to convey an emotional response,
such as defiance or annoyance
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 X. TIME COMMUNICATION
(CHRONEMICS)
 Time Communication (Chronemics) – the use of
time; how you treat, organize, and react to time.
 An especially important aspect of time is the
importance placed on past, present, or future
 People with a past orientation have a particular
reverence for tradition, old methods, old
wisdom
 People with a present orientation live in the
here and now without planning for tomorrow
 People with a future orientation look forward,
make plans, set goals

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 4) CULTURE AND NONVERBAL
COMMUNICATION
Culture and Gestures
 Dif ferent cultures perceive non-verbal cues, especially
hand gestures, dif ferently from one another.
For example:
‘Reverse V’ pose – cute in South East Asian countries,
rude in UK.
‘OK’ sign – means okay in most countries, but ‘asshole’
in Brazil or Argentina.
‘Thumbs up!’ – means okay or great!, but in Middle East
it means ‘stick this in your ass!’
Giving flowers – sweet gesture, but if you give an even
number of flowers to girls in Russia, it means you want
them to die.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RykpvFxODGY

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 4) CULTURE AND NONVERBAL
COMMUNICATION
Culture and Facial Expression
 Cultural variations in facial communication are more
indicative of what is publicly permissible than a
dif ference in the way emotions are facially expressed
For example:
- Broad smiles = inappropriate for Japanese women (they
will hide their smile sometimes with their hands), but
women in U.S are more likely to smile openly.

Culture and Colors

 Colors vary greatly in their meanings from one culture
to another; for example, red signifies prosperity and
rebirth in China; masculinity in France and the UK ;
blasphemy and death in many African countries.

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 4) CULTURE AND NONVERBAL
COMMUNICATION
Culture and Eye Communication:
Most cultures are open to eye communications,
but some do observe that avoiding eye contact
is the best policy.

Example:
Japan – rarely see eye-to-eye level (when they
greet the bow to each other)

Even in Malaysia, it is a challenge to talk to

someone and maintaining eye contact
throughout. Try doing it.

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 4) CULTURE AND NONVERBAL
COMMUNICATION
Culture and Touch
 Some cultures, such as Southern European and
Middle Eastern, are contact cultures; others, such
as Northern European and Japanese are low or
non-contact cultures. Being unaware of these
dif ferences can lead to cultural misunderstandings.
Culture – Paralanguage and Silence
 Some cultures, such as the Japanese and the
traditional Apache cultures, value silence more
than other cultures.
 In the U.S. silence is often interpreted negatively.

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 THIS MAN IS VERY GOOD IN NON VERBAL COMMUNICATION ^_^

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cX6VaIy2yA

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