Many nonverbal signals do not have any one specific meaning

Example: Someone winks at you and you ask yourself: Did they wink to express their affection for you, their pleasure with something you just did, or because you share some inside knowledge or joke?

Doesn’t have explicit rules of grammar that bring structure, order, and agreed-on patterns of usage. Instead, we implicitly learn norms of nonverbal communication, which leads to greater variance

Is typically thought of as the intentional act of altering information to influence another person, which means that it extends beyond lying to include concealing, omitting, or exaggerating information

Partners with the language through deceptive acts to be more convincing

Not always bad: People engage in deception for many reasons, including to excuse our own mistakes, to be polite to others, or to influence others’ behaviors or perceptions

The better at deception a creature is, the more likely it is to survive -> Over time, the humans that were better liars were the ones that got their genes passed on. But it does not give us a license to lie

Attempt to influence the reaction of the other person with a critcal or unpleasant message

Example: Hungry diners waiting to snag a first-come-first-serve table in a crowded restaurant send messages to the people who have already eaten and paid that it’s time to go

Goal: We don’t end up constantly interrupting each other or waiting in awkward silences between speaker turns

Pitch: helps us cue others into our conversational intentions

A rising pitch typically indicates a question and a falling pitch indicates the end of a thought or the end of a conversational turn

Example: Signal enclosure with a falling pitch and turn our eyes to the next person in turn to speak

Our identities (the groups to which we belong, our cultures, our hobbies and interests, etc.) are conveyed nonverbally through the way we set up our living and working spaces, the clothes we wear, the way we carry ourselves, and the accents and tones of our voices

Our physical bodies give others impressions about who we are, and some of these features are more under our control than others

Touching behaviors and movements that indicate internal states typically related to arousal or anxiety

Adaptors result from uneasiness, anxiety, or a general sense that we are not in control of our surroundings

Example: Click pens, shake our legs, or engage in other adaptors during classes, meetings, or while waiting as a way to do something with our excess energy

Even though they have a generally agreed-on meaning, they are not part of a formal sign system like ASL that is explicitly taught to a group of people

Example: Circling the index finger around at the side of your head says “He or she is crazy,” or rolling your hands over and over in front of you says “Move on.”

Are the most common type of gesture and are used to illustrate the verbal message they accompany

Unlike emblems, illustrators do not typically have meaning on their own and are used more subconsciously than emblems

Most of our communication occurs while we are standing or sitting

Example: One interesting standing posture involves putting our hands on our hips and is a nonverbal cue that we use subconsciously to make us look bigger and show assertiveness

Sitting: Leaning back shows informality and indifference, straddling a chair is a sign of dominance (but also some insecurity because the person is protecting the vulnerable front part of his or her body), and leaning forward shows interest and attentiveness

The face and eyes are the main point of focus during communication, and along with our ears our eyes take in most of the communicative information around us

Certain eye behaviors have become tied to personality traits or emotional states, as illustrated in phrases like “hungry eyes,” “evil eyes,” and “bedroom eyes.”

We use eye contact to signal to others that we are ready to speak or we use it to cue others to speak

We send cues when we are almost finished speaking

Taking in feedback and other nonverbal cues and to send information

We take in information to determine if the audience is engaged

Refers to the expansion and contraction of the black part of the center of our eyes and is considered a biometric form of measurement; it is involuntary and therefore seen as a valid and reliable form of data collection as opposed to self-reports on surveys or interviews that can be biased or misleadings

Use: Advertisers use pupil dilation as an indicator of consumer preferences, assuming that more dilation indicates arousal and attraction to a product

A lack of nonverbal communication competence related to touch could have negative interpersonal consequences

Example: If we don’t follow the advice we’ve been given about the importance of a firm handshake, a person might make negative judgments about our confidence or credibility

Touch is necessary for human social development, and it can be welcoming, threatening, or persuasive

Types: Functional-professional, social-polite, friendship-warmth, love-intimacy, and sexual-arousal touch

Functional-professional: Touch is related to a goal or part of a routine professional interaction, which makes it less threatening and more expected

Social-polite: Socially sanctioned touching behaviors help initiate interactions and show that others are included and respected

Friendship-warmth: Are important because they serve a relational maintenance purpose and communicate closeness, liking, care, and concern

Love-intimacy: Touch is more personal and is typically only exchanged between significant others, such as best friends, close family members, and romantic partners

Sexual-arousal: Most intimate form of touch, as it is intended to physically stimulate another person

Others: During play, physical conflict, to get attention, accidental touch,...

The study of paralanguage, which includes the vocal qualities that go along with verbal messages, such as pitch, volume, rate, vocal quality, and verbal fillers

Helps convey meaning, regulate conversational flow, and communicate the intensity of a message

Example: Greetings have a rising emphasis and farewells have falling emphasis

In our age of computer-mediated communication, TYPING IN ALL CAPS is usually seen as offensive, as it is equated with yelling

Refers to how fast or slow a person speaks and can lead others to form impressions about our emotional state, credibility, and intelligence

Speaking a little faster than the normal 120–150 words a minute, however, can be beneficial, as people tend to find speakers whose rate is above average more credible and intelligent

People typically find pleasing voices that employ vocal variety and are not monotone, are lower pitched (particularly for males), and do not exhibit particular regional accents

Sounds that fill gaps in our speech as we think about what to say next

Verbal fillers such as “um,” “uh,” “like,” and “ah” are common in regular conversation and are not typically disruptive

Accenting. Vocalic cues allow us to emphasize particular parts of a message, which helps determine meaning

Substituting. Vocalic cues can take the place of other verbal or nonverbal cues (e.g., saying “uh huh” instead of “I am listening and understand what you’re saying”)

Complementing. Vocalic cues elaborate on or modify verbal and nonverbal meaning (e.g., the pitch and volume used to say “I love sweet potatoes” would add context to the meaning of the sentence, such as the degree to which the person loves sweet potatoes or the use of sarcasm).

Regulating. Vocalic cues help regulate the flow of conversations (e.g., falling pitch and slowing rate of speaking usually indicate the end of a speaking turn).

Repetition. Vocalic cues reinforce other verbal and nonverbal cues (e.g., saying “I’m not sure” with an uncertain tone)

Contradicting. Vocalic cues may contradict other verbal or nonverbal signals (e.g., a person could say “I’m fine” in a quick, short tone that indicates otherwise)

We are on a daily cycle that influences when we eat, sleep, and wake

When disturbed, our physical and mental health and our communication competence and personal relationships can suffer

Varies based on our mood, our interest level, and other factors

Monochronic people tend to schedule their time more rigidly and do one thing at a time

Polychronic people keep more flexible schedules and may engage in several activities at once

Example: Doctors can make their patients wait for extended periods of time, and executives and celebrities may run consistently behind schedule, making others wait for them

Body shape, height, weight, attractiveness, and other physical features of our bodies

We can present ourselves through our outfits to suit the trend

Other political, social, and cultural symbols send messages to others about who we are

The physical location, size, and number of tattoos and piercings play a large role in whether or not they are deemed appropriate for professional contexts

We can often manipulate the nonverbal environment similar to how we would manipulate our gestures or tone of voice to suit our communicative needs

Example: The books that we display on our coffee table, the magazines a doctor keeps in his or her waiting room, the placement of fresh flowers in a foyer,...

In terms of formality, we can use nonverbal communication to convey dominance and status, which helps define and negotiate power and roles within relationships

Facial expressions refer to the use of the forehead, brow, and facial muscles around the nose and mouth to convey meaning. Facial expressions can convey happiness, sadness, fear, anger, and other emotions

Haptics refers to touch behaviors that convey meaning during interactions. Touch operates at many levels, including functional-professional, social-polite, friendship-warmth, and love-intimacy

Eye contact is studied under the category of oculesics and specifically refers to eye contact with another person’s face, head, and eyes and the patterns of looking away and back at the other person during interaction. Eye contact provides turn-taking signals, signals when we are engaged in cognitive activity, and helps establish rapport and connection, among other things

Vocalics refers to the vocalized but not verbal aspects of nonverbal communication, including our speaking rate, pitch, volume, tone of voice, and vocal quality. These qualities, also known as paralanguage, reinforce the meaning of verbal communication, allow us to emphasize particular parts of a message, or can contradict verbal messages

Head movements and posture include the orientation of movements of our head and the orientation and positioning of our body and the various meanings they send. Head movements such as nodding can indicate agreement, disagreement, and interest, among other things. Posture can indicate assertiveness, defensiveness, interest, readiness, or intimidation, among other things

Proxemics refers to the use of space and distance within communication. US Americans, in general, have four zones that constitute our personal space: the public zone (12 or more feet from our body), social zone (4–12 feet from our body), the personal zone (1.5–4 feet from our body), and the intimate zone (from body contact to 1.5 feet away). Proxemics also studies territoriality, or how people take up and defend personal space

Gestures are arm and hand movements and include adaptors like clicking a pen or scratching your face, emblems like a thumbs-up to say “OK,” and illustrators like bouncing your hand along with the rhythm of your speaking

Chronemics refers the study of how time affects communication and includes how different time cycles affect our communication, including the differences between people who are past or future oriented and cultural perspectives on time as fixed and measured (monochronic) or fluid and adaptable (polychronic)

Personal presentation and environment refers to how the objects we adorn ourselves and our surroundings with, referred to as artifacts, provide nonverbal cues that others make meaning from and how our physical environment—for example, the layout of a room and seating positions and arrangements—influences communication