Psychology UNIT ONE Non-verbal communication

Communication: passing information from one person to another

Verbal Communication: conveying messages using words or vocal sounds

Paralinguistics: vocal feautres that accompany speech

Tone of voice: the way words are spoken to convey emotion

Emphasis: giving prominence to somewords more than others

Intonation: inflection in the voice when speaking

Aim: To see if tone of voice has any effect when interpreting a verbal message.

Method: Different groups of participants listened to either friendly or hostile messages spoken in either friendly or hostile tones of voice. Therefore, some particiapnts heard a hostile message spoken in a friendly tone of voice and others heard a friendly message spoken in a hostile tone of voice.

Results: When participants were asked to interpret the messages, it was found that tone of voice had about five times the effect of the verbal message itself.

Conclusion: Tone of voice is extremely important in how people interpret verbal messages.

Aim: to see the effect of paralinguistics on the assesment of emotion.

Method: particiapnts were asked to listen to tape recordings and assess the speakers' emotions from the paralinguistic cues: tone of voice, emphasis and intonation.

Results: there was a very high level of accuracy in recognising these emotions: affection, amusement, disgust and fear.

Conclusion: paralinguistics have great importance when judging emotion.

Evaluation:

-help us to understand why some people may struggle to get verbal information across to others if their words contradict their tone of voice (may also suggest dishonesty)

-studies were carried out in artifical conditions and participants were asked to concentrate on certain aspects of the communication- in reality, people may focus on different things.

Eye contact: When two people in conversation are looking at eachothers eyes at the same time.

Aim: to see how eye movements affect the flow of conversation.

Method: Pairs of participants were asked to get acquainted- their conversations were secretly watched through a one-way mirror system.

Results: As one person was about to speak, they looked away from the other person, briefly avoiding eye contact. Then they would give the other persons face a prolonged look when they were about to finish what they were saying, which seemed to signal tothe other person that they could begin to speak. Without the prolonged look, there was a pause in conversation.

Conclusion: Eye movements signal turn taking in conversation.

Aim: To see how interrupting eye contact affects conversation.

Method: Pairs of participants were observed having conversations. In half the conversations, one of the participants wore dark glasses so the other could not receive eye contact.

Results: When one of the participants wore dark glasses, there were more pauses/interruptions.

Conclusion: Eye contact is important in ensuring the smooth flow of conversation.

Aim: to see the effect of pupil dilation on emotion.

Method: Participants were shown two nearly identical pictures of the same girl and asked which picture was more attractive. The only difference was that in one the girl's pupils were dilated.

Results: The majority of participants said the picture of the girl with the dilated pupils was more attractive, but they couldn't say why.

Conclusion: Pupil dilation has an unconcious but powerful effect on emotion.

-asking people to get acquanited and then observing their conversation is very artificial

-some participants may have behaved in a different way to normal- lacks ecological validity

-studies of eye contact help us to understand what we can do to make conversations run more smoothly

-studies of pupil dilation help us to understand why the use of eye makeup is so popular - it makes eyes look darker and larger, which seems to be an important unconcious signal for attraction

-help us to understand why we might feel uncomfortable talking to someone who either constantly looks at us or never looks at us- you don't know when it is your turn to speak

-we have no control over pupil dilation, so we cannot hide our emotions if we are attracted to someone.

There are seven facial expressions recognised in virtually all societies: happiness, surprise, anger, fear, sadness, interest and disgust. This suggests that they are inherited.

Aim: To look at the relationship between hemispheres of the brain and facial expressions.

Method: Pictures of people's faces showing different emotions were cut down the middle. New pictures were created with each half face and its mirror image. Then each pair of new faces was shown to participants and they were asked which picture they liked better.

Results: The majority of participants said they preferred the picture of the left half of the face and its reflection. When asked why they said the person in the picture looked 'warmer'.

Conclusion: The left side of the face expresses more emotion than the right side.

Evaluation: -studies involving still pictures are artificial, as we usually judge emotions on facial expressions that are constantly changing, as well other aspects of their behaviour (eg posture)   -facial expressions are instinctive and therefore likely to be truthful -helps us to understand why we prefer certain picture profiles of ourselves rather than others, we prefer to show our warm side.

Body language: a general term to describe aspects of non-verbal communication.

Posture: the positioning of the body, often regarded as a non-verbal communication signal.

Postural echo: mirroring another person's body position.

Confederate: an actor or stooge who appears to be a genuine participant in the experiment but is actually working for the experimenter.

Closed posture: positioning the arms so that they are folded across the body and/or crossing the legs.

Open posture: positioning the arms so they are not folded across the body and not crossing the legs.

People who are getting on well together echo each other's posture.

Closed posture can indicate rejection or disagreement, whereas open posture may indicate approval or acceptance.

Aim: to see the effect of postural echo/open and closed posture when having a conversation.

Method: a confederate of the experimenter approached individuals in a social setting and had conversations with them. In half of the conversations the confederate echoed the posture of the person they were talking to/adopted an open posture. In the other half, the confederate did not echo the posture of the other person/adopted a closed posture. Afterwards, the experimenter approached the individuals and asked them what they thought of the confederate.

Results: When postural echo was used, the people questioned liked the confederate and thought that they got on well together. When postural echo was not used, the confederate was not liked as much and the conversation felt awkward.

When showing an open posture, the confederate was seen as friendly and attractive. When showing a closed posture, the confederate was seen as unfriendly and less attractive. 

Conclusion: Postural echo gives an unconcious message of friendliness.

The posture that someone adopts will make a difference to how much they are liked.

-the individuals who were approached did not realise they were participating in a study and confederates were being used- deception and no informed consent= unethical

-there could be other factors causing the difference in the results aside from posture eg. personality differences

-counsellors might deliberately use postural echo to develop closer relationships with thier clients, who may then divulge more about themselves

-sales people will use open postures when talking to customers as they come across more friendly and are more likely to make a sale.

Gesture: a form of non-verbal communication in which information is conveyed by either deliberate or unconscious movement of parts of the body.

Aim: To see the effect of gestures used by waiters and waitresses on the tipping behaviour of customers in a restaurant.

Method: While taking orders from seated customers, waiters and waitresses were instructed to either stand upright or squat down near the customer (this makes more eye contact possible).

Results: When the waiters and waitresses squatted down, larger tips were received compared with when they took orders standing upright

Conclusion: The gesture of squatting down near a seated customer to take an order will have a positive effect on tipping behaviour

Evaluation: -size of the bill, gender of person who served them could also effect tip given -does show that gestures can be used to people's advantage -participants were all female in library study (lacks population validity) -ethical issues as they didn't know they were part of a study

Aim: To see the effect of touch on people's attitudes.

Method: Female students in a library were handed books by the librarian. The librarian was a confederate of the experimenter. Half of the students were briefly touched on the hand by the librarian when the books were handed to them. The other students were not touched by the librarian.

Results: When questioned later, the students who were touched had a much more positive attitude towards the library and the librarian than those who were not touched. However, the students were not aware that they had been touched.

Conclusion: Touch will have an unconscious and positive effect on attitudes.

Personal space: the distance we keep between ourselves and other people in our everyday lives.

Aim: To see if sex difference affect personal space.

Method: One at a time, participants were asked to sit and have a conversation with another person who was actually a confederate of the experimenter. Sometimes the confederate was the same sex as the participant and at other times the confederate was of the opposite sex. The confederate sat at different distances from the participant and continually looked into the participant's eyes.

Results: The participants tended to break eye contact with the confederate of the opposite sex at a greater distance apart than when the confederate was of the same sex. Argyle and Dean thought that this was the point at which personal space was being invaded.

Conclusion: We prefer to have a greater amount of personal space between ourselves and members of the opposite sex during normal conversation.

-when a man is in conversation with a women, he might not know he is standing too close

Aim: to see if age has an effect on personal space.

Method: Willis observed almost 800 individuals in different social situations.

Results: Those he observed tended to stand clsoer to people their own age and further away from people who were either very much older or younger than themselves.

Conclusion: Age difference affects how close people will stand to one another.

Aim: To see if personality has an effect on personal space.

Method: College students were given personality tests to see if they were extrovert or introvert. They were them sent to an office one by one to receive their college grades from a tutor. The researchers noted where they chose to sit in the office when receiving their grades.

Results: Introverts sat further away from the tutor than extroverts.

Conclusion: Whether someone is extrovert or introvert will affect their use of personal space.

Aim: To see if there are cultural differences in the use of personal space.

Method: Summer observed groups of white English people and groups of Arab people in conversation.

Results: The comfortable conversation distance for the white English people was 1-1.5m, whereas the comfortable conversation distance for Arab people was much less.

Conclusion: The use of personal space in a normal conversation varies with culture.

Aim: To see if status has an effect on personal space.

Method: Zahn observed people of equal status approaching each other as well as people of unequal status approaching eachother to have a conversation.

Results: Zahn found that people of lower status did not approach people of higher status with the same degree of closeness as those of equal status.

Conclusion: The use of personal space varies with differences in status.

-helps us to understand why people in Arab countries regard Europeans and Americans as unfriendly and untrustworthy as they stand back in conversations 

-Meditteranean men are seen as romantic by British girls as they stand closer

-feels more threatening to approach someone of higher status and we show our anxiety by keeping our distance 

-factors do not operate in isolation (facial expression could affect our use of personal space- we would stand further away from someone who was angry)

-also depends on how much we like the other person come into play