Nonverbal Communication Unit 2

What is Nonverbal Communication?

• Any instance where a stimulus other than words creates meaning.
• Includes gestures, facial expressions, movement, etc.

Characteristics of Nonverbal Communication (NVC)

• May be unintentional.
• Consists of multiple codes.
• Immediate, continuous, and natural.
• Both universal and cultural.
• Contextual.

Uses of Nonverbal Messages

• Initial judgments.
• Communicate relational information such as liking, status, and responsiveness.
• Convey emotional expression.

Interaction of Nonverbal & Verbal Messages

• Repeating, contradicting, substituting, complementing, accenting, regulating.
• Nonverbal leakage.

Nonverbal Codes

• Kinesics (body movement): gestures, movement, posture, body orientation.
  • Emblems: direct verbal translations.
  • Illustrators: accompany or complement verbal communication.
  • Regulators: regulate the flow of conversation.
  • Affect Displays: convey emotional states.
  • Adaptors: nervous habits or movements.
• Facial Displays: innate expressions, cultural display rules.
• Eye Behavior (optics): signals availability, character assessment, visual dominance.
• Paralanguage (vocalics): vocal qualities, vocalizations, pauses.
• Chronemics, Proxemics, Physical Appearance, Object Language are also important.

Relational Development

• Interpersonal Communication (IPC) involves increasing information exchange.
• Social Penetration Theory: moves from cultural to psychological level.
• Onion Model: breadth and depth of topics.

Relational Communication Patterns

• Monopoly Pattern: one authority, little conflict.
• Equality Pattern: open, honest communication.
• Balance Split Pattern: equality with control in different domains.
• Unbalanced Split Pattern: one controls more domains.
• Relational Dialectics: autonomy-togetherness, novelty-predictability.

Relational Maintenance

• Resolution strategies include dialectical emphasis, pseudo-synthesis, reaffirmation, segmentation.
• Communication exchanges can be symmetrical, complementary, or transitory, with behaviors classified as one-up, one-down, one-across.

Double Binds

• Contradictory messages create paradoxes, impacting relationships.

Relational Dissolution

• Patterns in deteriorating relationships: decrease in favorable behaviors, increase in defensiveness, and changes in evaluative responses.
• Guidelines for self-disclosure in relationships.

Interpersonal Communication: Conflict

What is Conflict?

• An expressed struggle between interdependent parties with perceived incompatible goals.
• Can be content-based or relationship-based.

Nature of Conflict

• Natural part of any significant relationship.
• Can be negative or beneficial, depending on handling.

Conflict Styles

• Withdrawing: avoid conflict.
• Forcing: attempt to win at all costs.
• Accommodating: give in immediately.
• Compromising: seek middle ground.

Interpersonal Communication and New Media

Communicating via Tech

• Online communication has both positive and negative impacts.
• Marshall McLuhan’s concept: "The medium is the message."
• Changes perceptions and communication patterns.

New Media

• Use digital rather than analog technology.
• Combines words, sounds, and images.
• Asynchronous communication allows for increased information access.

Characteristics of New Media

• Digitization: multi-media capability.
• Interactivity: increased user choice.
• Increased surveillance: affects user behavior.

Affordances of Personal Media

• Persistence, Visibility, Spreadability, Searchability: affect how we experience space, time, and thought.