Page 120 - Essentials of Human Communication

The Channels of Nonverbal Communication 99

TAble 5.3 Five body Movements
What other examples can you think of for these five movements?

Name and Function examples
EMBLEMS directly translate words or phrases; they are “OK” sign, “come here” wave, hitchhiker’s sign
especially culture specific.

ILLUSTRATORS accompany and literally “illustrate” Circular hand movements when talking of a circle; hands
verbal messages. far apart when talking of something large
AFFECT DISPLAYS communicate emotional meaning. Expressions of happiness, surprise, fear, anger, sadness,
disgust/contempt
REGULATORS monitor, maintain, or control the speech Facial expressions and hand gestures indicating “keep
of another. going,” “slow down,” or “what else happened?”
ADAPTORS satisfy some need. Scratching your head

body appearance Your general body appearance also communicates. Height, for
example, has been shown to be significant in a wide variety of situations. Tall presidential
candidates have a much better record of winning elections than do their shorter opponents.
Tall people seem to be paid more and are favored by personnel interviewers over shorter job
applicants (Keyes, 1980; Knapp & Hall, 2009). Taller people also have higher self-esteem and
greater career success than do shorter people (Judge & Cable, 2004).
Your body also reveals your race, through skin color and tone, and may even give clues
as to your nationality. Your weight in proportion to your height also will communicate mes-
sages to others, as will the length, color, and style of your hair.
Your general attractiveness, which includes both visual appeal and pleasantness of person-
ality, is also a part of body communication. Attractive people have the advantage in just about
every activity you can name. They get better grades in school, are more
valued as friends and lovers, and are preferred as coworkers (Burgoon,
Guerrero, & Floyd, 2010). Not surprisingly, positive facial expressions
contribute to the perception of attractiveness for both men and women
(Koscriski, 2007).

FacIal cOMMuNIcatION
Throughout your communication interactions, your face communi-
cates many things, especially your emotions. In fact, facial move-
ments alone seem to communicate the degree of pleasantness, agree-
ment, and sympathy felt; the rest of the body doesn’t provide any
additional information in those realms. But for other aspects—for
example, the intensity with which an emotion is felt—both facial
and bodily cues enter in (Graham, Bitti, & Argyle, 1975; Graham &
Argyle, 1975). These cues are so important in communicating your
full meaning that graphic representations are now commonly used
in electronic communication. On the Internet, emoticon buttons to ViewpOINts
help you encode your emotions graphically are now common.
(See again Table 5.1, which identified some of the more common the Importance of appearance
emoticons.) On a 10-point scale, with 1 indicating “not at all important”
Some nonverbal research claims that facial movements may and 10 indicating “extremely important,” how important is
communicate at least the following eight emotions: happiness, sur- body appearance to your own romantic interest in another
prise, fear, anger, sadness, disgust, contempt, and interest (Ekman, person? Do the men and women you know conform to the
stereotypes that say males are more concerned with the
Friesen, & Ellsworth, 1972). Try to communicate surprise using only physical and females more concerned with personality?
facial movements. Do this in front of a mirror and try to describe in