Kinesics

1. Kinesics Body movement and gestures

2. Movement communicates meaning • “Actions speak louder than words” • Movement reflects one’s state of arousal • animated, energetic • lethargic, lackluster • Reciprocal relationship • Our mood affects our behavior, but our behavior also affects our mood. • smiling • nodding

3. Open vs. closed body positions

4. Open or closed?

5. Posture & Gait • Expressions related to posture, gait • “grow a spine” • walking with a “spring in your step” • “stand up for yourself” • “standing tall” • “hold your head high” • “don’t slouch.” • “stand still” • “taking a stand” • In Western culture, an upright, yet relaxed body posture, is associated with confidence, positivity, high self esteem (Guerrero & Floyd, 2006).

6. Poor posture • Miley Cyrus and Kristen Stewart were criticized for slouching at the 2010 Oscars.

7. Posture & Gait • Power walk • Shuffling • Runway model walk • Sashay • Swagger • Saunter • Stroll • Arms swinging vs. not swinging • “Light in the loafers” • Gait, posture and victimization • “victimology studies indicate that approachers…tend to choose less confident, shy women” (White & Smith, 2001). • “A weak walking style sends a cue of vulnerability to a would-be mugger or attacker.” (Gunns Johnson, & Hudson, 2002) • “Confident walkers rank near the bottom of potential targets of crime”(Ivy & Wahl, 2009).

8. Posture & Gait People are able to recognize emotions from a person’s body movement (Clarke et al. 2005)

9. Posture & Gait Gunns, Johnston, and Hudson (2002) found that victims of attack walk in ways that make them more vulnerable to would-be attackers. Wheeler, Book, and Costello (2009) found that male psychopaths distinguished people who had been victimized from those who had not after viewing short video clips of these people walking.

10. Posture and Body Movement • Nonverbal indicators of Liking • Forward lean • Body and head orientation facing the other person • Open body positions • Affirmative head nods • Moderate gesturing and animation • Close interpersonal distances • Moderate body relaxation • Touching • Initiating and maintaining eye contact • Smiling • Mirroring (congruent posture)

11. Posture and Body Movement • Nonverbal indicators of dislike • Indirect, oblique body orientation • No eye contact, or eye contact of short duration • Averted eyes • Unpleasant facial expressions • Relative absence of gestures • Body rigidity, bodily tension • Incongruent postures

12. Scheflen’s Dimensions of Posture • inclusiveness/noninclusiveness The degree to which one’s body position includes or excludes someone else. Inclusiveness indicates liking, interest in the other person. • face to face/parallel The degree to which people face each other, square on, versus at an angle or side by side. A square on position indicates mutual involvement, some level of intimacy. • congruence/incongruence The degree of mirroring, matching, mimicry

13. Posture and power, dominance • Posture and Dominance • Taking up space • Arms akimbo • Maintaining gaze • Pointing at someone • Violating another’s personal space

14. Body movement and sexual orientation • Studies on “Gaydar” demonstrate that people can distinguish another’s sexual orientation at better than chance odds. • This does not mean “Gaydar” is infallible.

15. Public Speaking • When speaking before a group: • Stand straight, yet relaxed • Don’t slouch • Don’t lean on or hide behind a podium • Don’t look frozen, wooden • Avoid nervous pacing • Movement should be purposeful • Movement should complement or punctuate the verbal message

16. Interpreting posture • What are these people conveying with their bodies?

17. Interpreting posture • Are these couples getting along?

18. Interpreting posture

19. Politician’s postures

20. nonverbal faux pas

21. Gestures • Humans have uniquely expressive hands.

22. Ambiguity of gestures • The same gesture can have different meanings

23. Gestures • The meaning of a gesture depends on its context • flipping someone the “bird” could be serious or playful.

24. Gestures • Gestures may be conflicting • Yawning while saying you are not tired. • Looking involved but saying, “I don’t care,”

25. Emblems • Emblems are used intentionally. • They have verbal equivalents • They have a clear, consistent meaning within a particular culture • Cross my heart • Shame on you • Peace sign • I’m crazy

26. Illustrators • Illustrators are used intentionally. • Illustrators are tied to speech. • They reinforce or supplement what is being said. • Illustrators are most common in face-to-face interaction • Illustrators are so habitual, people use them when talking on the phone • Examples of illustrators • Two palms held up signify “I don’t know • Wagging a finger while making a point • Rolling one’s eyes in disbelief • “For example” gesture • Just a pinch • Hitting one’s fist for emphasis • A double head nod • Pointing when giving directions • I caught a fish this big. • After you

27. Affect displays • Affect displays may or may not be intentional • Affect displays convey feeling and emotion • They are often communicated via facial expressions • They can be difficult to interpret • Interpreting affect displays: • Look at the face to determine the emotion • Look at body cues to determine the strength or intensity of the emotion.

28. Affect displays Are these people expressing the same emotion, in differing degrees, or different emotions altogether?

29. Regulators • Regulators are primarily unintentional • They regulate turn-taking behavior • Conversational give and take depends on regulators • Types of turn-taking • Turn-requesting cues • Turn maintaining cues • Turn yielding cues • Turn denying cues

30. Regulators • Regulate the ebb and flow of conversation

31. Adaptors • Adaptors are usually unintentional. • Adaptors include self-touching behaviors • Adapters signal nervousness, anxiousness, boredom • Generally speaking, adapters are perceived negatively • However, adaptors may be perceived as more genuine, authentic • Examples of adaptors • Fiddling with one’s hair • Chewing one’s fingernails • Tapping one’s foot or leg • Biting one’s lips • Scratching one’s arm • Wringing one’s hands • Clenching one’s jaw

32. Adaptors • Hair twirling is an adaptor, but does it always mean the same thing?

33. Adaptors • Object adaptors include: • Tapping a pencil • Drumming one’s fingers • Adjusting one’s clothing • Playing with jewelry • Adaptors when students take tests • Hair twirling • Scratching • Ear pulling • Forehead rubbing

34. Nonverbal leave taking behaviors • What do people do when • they are ending an interpersonal conversation? • they are getting ready to leave class? • they are ending a phone conversation? • Does it depend on: • the communication context? • the nature of the relationship? • cultural considerations?