Vietnam National University of Agriculture

Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

Unit 4: Nonverbal Communication

 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

What is nonverbal
communication?
• “Oral and non-oral messages expressed by other than
linguistic means.”
• Messages transmitted by vocal means that do not
involve language
• Sign language and written words are not considered
nonverbal communication
 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

Nonverbal communication is powerful

• 60% of all communication is nonverbal
(Burgoon, Buller, & Woodall,1989)
 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

There are 7 types of nonverbal

behavior
• Proxemics
• Haptics
• Chronemics
• Kinesics
• Artifacts
• Vocalics or Paralanguage
• Environment
 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

PROXEMICS (distance)
• Different cultures have different comfort levels
of distance
• As children grow older and become less
dependent on parents they require more space
• Men tend to take up more space than women
Example: When you go to the movies with
someone of the opposite sex who usually gets
the armrest?
 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

Edward T. Hall’s 4 levels of

distance
• Intimate: 0 to 18 inches
• personal: 18 inches to 4 feet
• social: 4 to 10 feet
• public: 10 feet to infinity
 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

HAPTICS (touch)
The power of touch:
• A (1997) study found that strangers that were
touched were more likely to return change left in a
phone booth(Klienke)
• A (1992) study found that food servers who used
touch received larger tips (Hornick)
• Library study (1976) found that students who were
slightly touched by clerk while checking out library
books evaluated the library much more favorably
than those who were not touched.
 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

CHRONEMICS (time)
How is time used to communicate?
What does it mean to you when someone is always
late?
A study conducted by Burgoon (1989) found that
people who arrive 15 minutes late are considered
dynamic, but much less competent, composed and
sociable than those that arrive on time.
 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

KINESICS (behavior)
• Facial expressions
• Eye contact
• Body language
• Gestures
• Physical appearance
 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

Facial expressions
• The face is capable of conveying 250,000
expressions (Birdwhistle, 1970)
• Smiling increases sociability, likeability, and
attraction(LaFrance & Hecht, 1995)
• Food servers who smile more often earn
increased tips (Heslin & Patterson, 1982)
• Studies conducted on students caught cheating
found that students who smiled were treated
with more leniency (LaFrance & Hecht, 1995)
 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

Eye contact
• Successful pan handlers establish eye contact (Beebe,
1974)
• People are more likely to comply when more eye
contact is used
• Eye contact conveys a sense of sincerity
• Eye contact establishes a connection between persons
 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

Body language
• Mirroring – building rapport with others by
mimicking their nonverbal cues
• People like those who are similar or equal to them
• “Mirroring” body language facilitates compliance
• Many self-help books suggest mirroring techniques
to get people to like them
Example: The book Unlimited Power by, Anthony
Robbins
 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

Gestures
• Gestures can be seen as subtle or not so
subtle cues
• We use gestures to take the place of words,
or help us to increase understanding of what
is being said
 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

Physical Appearance
• More attractive people are judged to be happier, more
intelligent, friendlier, stronger, and kinder and are
thought to have better personalities, better jobs, and
greater marital competence (Knapp, 1992)
• Attractive people get more dates, higher grades,
higher tips, and lighter court sentences than
unattractive people (Dunn, 2000)
 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

• Example:
• In a 1980 study 73 defendants who had been rated on physical
attractiveness went to trial. Results showed that the more
attractive defendants received significantly lighter sentences
(Stewart).
 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

ARTIFACTS (Dress, Belongings,

etc.)
• Material objects as an extension of oneself
• Clothing has the power to influence
• Change left in a phone booth was returned to well
dressed people 77% of the time, poorly dressed
people only 38% of the time
• Several studies show that fancy suits, uniforms and
high-status clothing are related to higher rates of
compliance.
• The situation governs appropriate dress
 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

VOLCALICS (Paralanguage)
• Use of voice to communicate includes elements
such as pitch, rate, pauses, volume, tone of
voice, silences, laughs, screams, sighs, etc.
 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

• Studies have found that people who talk

louder, faster, and more fluently are more
persuasive
• Deep voices are often viewed as more credible
• Powerless style of communication (pauses,
umhs, uhs, tag questions) lowers perceptions of
credibility
 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

ENVIRONMENT

• What we surround ourselves with

• Example: The way we decorate our house tells others a lot
about us
 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

Environment is often used to

influence nonverbally
• Several researchers have found that
supermarkets strategically place products

• Staples such as dairy, meat and produce are in

the back or on opposite sides of the store, in
order to force shoppers to meander through
aisles where they’ll be tempted to buy all
kinds of other products
 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

• Children’s products are usually placed on lower

shelves where they can easily be viewed

• Snack foods, which appeal to impulsive buyers

are usually placed near check-out areas and at
the end of isles where they are more likely to be
snatched up

(Field, 1996; Meyer, 1997: Tandingan, 2001)

 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

Functions of Nonverbal
Communication
• Repeating
• Substituting
• Complementing
• Accenting
• Regulating
• Contradicting
• Deceiving
 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

Repeating
• The use of nonverbal behavior to say what you are saying in
words
• Emblems- are the nonverbal behaviors that we use to display
what we mean
• Example: head nods at the same time as someone saying
“yes”
 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

Substituting
• The use of nonverbal behaviors to say things rather than
words
• We often answer questions others ask by responding
nonverbally rather than verbally
Example: Nodding your head to answer a question rather than
saying “yes”
 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

Complementing
• The use of nonverbal behaviors to strengthen what
is being said with words.

• Illustrators- nonverbal behaviors that support what

is being said verbally

• Example: A friend says “I am so sorry” and at the

same time makes a sincerely sad face
 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

Accenting
• The way we emphasize certain words in order to clarify what
we mean.

Example: “NO!” or “No????”

 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

Regulating
• Nonverbal behaviors that control the flow of the conversation,
and tell us when it is our turn to talk, or when the other
person is finished talking.
Example: while telling a story to a friend, one may pause to
allow room for comments
 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

Contradicting
• When people are saying one thing yet their nonverbal
behavior is telling us something completely different.

Example: A friend says, “I am so sorry” while smiling

 Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty

In conclusion
• A knowledge of the several factors involved with nonverbal
communication, and an awareness of its power will improve
our ability to communicate with others.
Vietnam National University of Agriculture
Education and Foreign Languages Faculty