Communication
Language – what we think of when we think of communication. Language allows communication even with yourself (thinking); language “frees us from the present moment”. It is a symbolic conceptualization of the world.
James and Meade (Symbolic Interactionism) said that we live in a world of symbols and language is a socially shared symbol system, a vehicle of communication. In language we have denotation and connotation. Denotation points out or defines the object on the basis of its attributes (the dictionary definition). Connotation is the emotional or evaluative judgment carried in the word
Intersubjectivity in communication – not just what is said, but who says it; we infer another’s intention and motives
Paralanguage – how things are said; nonword aspects of speech; pitch, volume, stress, speed
4 Paralinguistic
cues: (Mahl)
1) vocal (loudness, pitch)
2) temporal (rate, duration)
3) verbal stylistic (dialect, colloquialisms, vocabulary peculiarities interactive (conversational behaviors; interruptions; speaker state signals – ahem!)
Nonverbal
Communication
Mehrabian – 3 components of the communicated message;
1) verbal
2) nonverbal
3) vocal
nonverbal
communication reveals 3 sets of attitudes:
1) liking/disliking
2) submissiveness/dominance
3) degree of responsiveness that others arouse in us
Freud said “He that has eyes to see and ears to hear may convince himself that no mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent he chatters with his fingertips; betrayal oozes out of every pore.”
Nonverbal
communication occurs through many channels:
Kinesics - body movement (tapping fingers, shrugs, eye wink, etc
Schflen – courting kinesics –heightened muscle tone and posture; facial changes – muscles tighten, skin tone changes, eyes brighten; body movements
Body language is perceived by observers as a more honest indicator of true feelings. It is viewed as being less susceptible to conscious control than verbal communication (leaky cues)
Deception – can we tell when someone is lying? Zuckerman et al. (1984) accuracy 45-60%
Gait (how you walk) – gait reveals physical and emotional states – an optimist has a spring in her step; a depressed person moves slowly
Barry & McArthur (1986); Montpare, Zebrowitz, & McArthur, 1988) varied the age of walkers; videotaped a point light display.
Gestures - hand movements and body movements that carry a feeling message; emblems (movements carrying a specific meaning within a given culture); illustrators – a direct link with speech (e.g. when someone asks for directions we point)
Touch – positive;
negative
High status people can touch low status people (Henly, 1977); women/men – nonreciprocal touch; males; older people
Witcher & Fisher (1979) nurses told to touch ( not to touch)
their patients when they were communicating with them; findings
Give my dime back study
Tips for waitpersons (Crusco & Wetzel, 1984)
Monkey study – physiological effects of touch; heart conditions and pets
Foreigners (unless British) perceive American parents as cold
Facial Cues – Cicero “The eyes are the windows to the soul.” In reading another’s facial expression, you are making a social inference ( a process that requires coding and decoding and is often inaccurate)
Facial expression (Ekman) we read another’s emotions from facial expressions. Cross cultural studies (anger, fear, happiness, disgust, surprise, sadness)
There is survival value in the ability to read and to generate facial expressions ( recognizing an angry face in a crowd – secret service) – Hansen and Hansen (1988)
We learn display rules wherein we hide our expressions.
Do facial expressions really indicate the emotion a person is feeling? Cacioppo et al. (1988) asked participants to move parts of their face to mimic certain facial expressions )wrinkle their nose as they would if disgusted). Found that different facial movements correspond to different physiological changes (fear expressions led to faster heart rate; happiness led to slower heart rates). In addition, the more the facial expression corresponded to the actual emotional expression being portrayed, the more the participant reported feeling the corresponding feelings (Facial – Feedback Hypothesis)
Gaze initiation
– power, control, interest.
Staring – negative – avoidance reactions . Greenbaum et al. (1978) male on the grassy knoll near a traffic light; dependent measure – how fast they took off.
The amount of space we allow around us; personal –1.5 – 4’; social –4-12’; public – 12-25’; in our culture, the closer one is allowed into our space the greater the liking and intimacy (Blacks, Gays – chair movement – prejudice)