Nonverbal assessment of interpersonal affect.

Two nonverbal methods for assessing degree of interpersonal attraction were explored. Twenty children ranging from 11 to 13 years of age were asked to select two liked and two disliked classmates of the same sex. On four different trials, subjects selected one geometric block to represent themselves and one to represent a pre-selected classmate, then placed the figures on a ruled board. Distance between objects was measured and found to be significantly related to degree of peer liking. In addition, subjects were asked to draw each of the four peers. The human figure drawings were rated for total pictorial detail which was found to vary strongly across magnitude of liking for female subjects, and for parts integration which was found to vary with degree of peer liking for both sexes. The degree of rated positive affective tone of drawings was also found to increase with liking. Implications for the use of these two interpersonal assessment techniques in clinical practice were discussed.     

Nonverbal communication affect in children.

A paradign was tested for measuting the tendency of children to send accurate nonverbal signals to others via spontaneous facial expressions and gestures. This paradign was derived from studies on adults that suggest that women are more accurate nonverbal "sendres" than men in certain situations. Eighteeen male and 11 female preschoolers (aged 4 to 6 years) watched a series of emotionally loaded color slides while they were observed via a hidden television camera by their mothers. Results indicated that significant overall communciation occurred, with large individual differences in "sending ability" between children. There was no evidence of a large sex difference in sending ability in choldren, although on one measure girls were more accurate senders than boys when viewed by undergraduates. Sending ability was positively related to teacher's ratings of activity level, aggressiveness, impulsiveness, bossiness, sociability, etc., and negatively related ti shyness, cooperation, emotional inhibition and control, etc.     

A cross-cultural investigation of the graphic differential

A new Graphic Differential (GD) suggested by French (1977) may be used as a language-free alternative to the Semantic Differential (Osgood, Suci, & Tannenbaum, 1957). The new GD (which is based on prior attempts by other writers) consists of 5 pictographic scales for each semantic dimension: Evaluation, Potency, and Activity. Since the GD employs pictograms instead of adjectives, it would be a suseful tool for cross-cultural research, given that the pictograms, although developed in the United States, are understood universally. In the present study, 46 American and 46 German subjects sorted the 15 graphic scales according to semantic similarity. Responses were summarized in similarity matrices, which were analyzed further by the methods of maximum spanning tree and hierarchical cluster analysis. American results show that the intended meaning of the scales could be understood. This strengthens the intracultural validity of the GD. In general, the German findings were similar. The German subjects, however, could not categorize all the scales as clearly as the Americans. The problematic scales could weaken the cross-cultural validity of the GD.This work was originally presented at the Fifth International Conference on Culture and Communication, Temple University, Philadelphia, March 26, 1983. I gratefully acknowledge the support of Dr. Christine Bachen and her teaching assistants from the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, who provided for collection of the American data.     

The measurement of core affect: a Swedish self-report measure derived from the affect circumplex

Three studies were conducted with the aim of developing a new Swedish self-report measure of core affect (the Swedish Core Affect Scale or SCAS). In Study 1,122 participants rated their current mood on 24 unipolar adjective scales. A revised set of 12 bipolar adjective scales was evaluated in Study 2 employing 96 participants who rated their current mood before and after a mood-inducing naturally occurring event. A slightly revised set of adjective scales was used in Study 3, in which another 96 participants rated several induced moods. The results showed that the adjective scale ratings could be aggregated as reliable measures of the independent valence and activation dimensions proposed in the affect circumplex, and that the aggregated measures discriminated mood differences within and between individuals.     

Emotion Comprehension: The Impact of Nonverbal Intelligence

A substantial body of research has established that emotion understanding develops throughout early childhood and has identified three hierarchical developmental phases: external, mental, and reflexive. The authors analyzed nonverbal intelligence and its effect on children's improvement of emotion understanding and hypothesized that cognitive level is a consistent predictor of emotion comprehension. In all, 366 children (182 girls, 184 boys) between the ages of 3 and 10 years were tested using the Test of Emotion Comprehension and the Coloured Progressive Matrices. The data obtained by using the path analysis model revealed that nonverbal intelligence was statistically associated with the ability to recognize emotions in the 3 developmental phases. The use of this model showed the significant effect that cognitive aspect plays on the reflexive phase. The authors aim to contribute to the debate about the influence of cognitive factors on emotion understanding.     

An inkblot for attitudes: affect misattribution as implicit measurement

Misattributions people make about their own affective reactions can be used to measure attitudes implicitly. Combining the logic of projective tests with advances in priming research, the affect misattribution procedure (AMP) was sensitive to normatively favorable and unfavorable evaluations (Experiments 1-4), and the misattribution effect was strong at both fast and slow presentation rates (Experiments 3 and 4). Providing further evidence of validity, the AMP was strongly related to individual differences in self-reported political attitudes and voting intentions (Experiment 5). In the socially sensitive domain of racial attitudes, the AMP showed in-group bias for Black and White participants. AMP performance correlated with explicit racial attitudes, a relationship that was moderated by motivations to control prejudice (Experiment 6). Across studies, the task was unaffected by direct warnings to avoid bias. Advantages of the AMP include large effect sizes, high reliability, ease of use, and resistance to correction attempts.     

The Structured Nonverbal Assessment of Personality

This article describes the development of a structured nonverbal measure of personality based on Murray's (1938) system of needs. The items of the Nonverbal Personality Questionnaire consist of line drawings of a central figure performing trait-relevant behaviors in specific situations; respondents are asked to indicate the likelihood of engaging in similar behaviors. The nonverbal form was administered to three Canadian samples of respondents and one Finnish sample. Reliability and validity data for the initial item pool and for a revised form are reported. The utility of the nonverbal inventory for cross-cultural and theoretical work in personality is discussed.     

Nonverbal Counting in Humans: The Psychophysics of Number Representation

In a nonverbal counting task derived from the animal literature, adult human subjects repeatedly attempted to produce target numbers of key presses at rates that made vocal or subvocal counting difficult or impossible. In a second task, they estimated the number of flashes in a rapid, randomly timed sequence. Congruent with the animal data, mean estimates in both tasks were proportional to target values, as was the variability in the estimates. Converging evidence makes it unlikely that subjects used verbal counting or time durations to perform these tasks. The results support the hypothesis that adult humans share with nonverbal animals a system for representing number by magnitudes that have scalar variability (a constant coefficient of variation). The mapping of numerical symbols to mental magnitudes provides a formal model of the underlying nonverbal meaning of the symbols (a model of numerical semantics).     

Nonverbal learning disabilities: The syndrome and a case study

Presents the syndrome of nonverbal learning disabilities (NLD) and the model developed to encompass its complex manifestations. Included are the history of the development of the syndrome, the types of children in whom its principal features are manifest, the hypothesized neurological bases of the syndrome, and a test of its developmental dimensions. A case study with assessment results and treatment implications illustrates the clinical dimensions of the syndrome. General developmental and treatment implications of the NLD syndrome and the NLD model are also included.     

The measurement of differential thresholds for lifted weights by microcomputer-controlled apparatus

The measurement of differential thresholds (DLs) for lifted weights normally involves lengthy test sessions. This is due partly to the statistical techniques for measuring the threshold and partly to the methods adopted to present the stimuli. Attempts to speed up test procedures tend to produce unreliable DL estimates, or to measure the sense of force or effort rather than weight perception. To facilitate the measurement of DLs for lifted weights, an Apple microcomputer was programmed to generate Wetherill tracking procedures and was interfaced with two stimulus bearing turntables. Various lifting methods are easily implemented, and DLs are reliably and quickly measured. The adaptation of the apparatus for general use in investigating the haptic sense modality is discussed.     

A single‐item graphic scale for the measurement of organizational identification

We offer a single‐item graphic scale for the measurement of identification with organizations and organizational units. The scale is based on conceiving of identification in terms of distance or overlap between entities in a cognitive space. We present results from five samples regarding the reliability and validity of the scale.     

The Nature of Arousal and Nonverbal Indices

The current monograph asserts that nonverbal behaviors can serve as useful overt indices of experienced arousal. Various conceptualizations of arousal and factors eliciting arousal in communication situations are examined. It is proposed that, from a communication standpoint, indices of arousal and arousal change are best classified along two dimensions of arousal intensity and arousal valence. Diverse bodies of literature on nonverbal concamitants of arousal are reviewed. As a first test of whether separate profiles exist for negatively, as opposed to positively or neutrally, valenced arousal, data are analyzed from a mock-interview experiment in which, following a baseline interview, participants (N=52) were subjected by an interviewer to either increased or decreased involvement. The involvement changes were expected to elevate arousal intensity for all participants and induce positively or negatively valenced arousal in the two respective conditions. Polynomial regressions and z-test comparisons of correlations revealed that 16 composites, comprising a total of 47 nonverbal variables, showed significant associations with changes in arousal.     

The Effect of Praise, Positive Nonverbal Response, Reprimand, and Negative Nonverbal Response on Child Compliance: A Systematic Review

Lack of compliance has both short- and long-term costs and is a leading reason why parents seek mental health services for children. What parents do to help children comply with directives or rules is an important part of child socialization. The current review examines the relationship between a variety of parenting discipline behaviors (i.e., praise, positive nonverbal response, reprimand, negative nonverbal response) and child compliance. Forty-one studies of children ranging in age from 1? to 11?years were reviewed. Reprimand and negative nonverbal responses consistently resulted in greater compliance. Praise and positive nonverbal responses resulted in mixed child outcomes. The findings are discussed based on theory and populations studied. The authors propose a mechanism that may increase children’s sensitivity to both positive and negative behavioral contingencies.     

The Nature of Conversational Involvement and Nonverbal Encoding Patterns

Conversational involvement refers to the degree to which participants in a communicative exchange are cognitively and behaviorially engaged in the topic, relationship, and/or situation. It is argued that involvement should be viewed from a functional perspective and conceptualized as entailing fiue dimensions: immediacy, expressiveness, interaction management, altercentrism, and social anxiety. Specific nonverbal behaviors that are actually encoded to express involvement along these five dimensions are examined within an interview context. Unacquainted dyads (N=52) engaged in baseline interviews followed by a second interview in which one participant was asked to increase or decrease involvement significantly. Tiuentyone kinesic, proxemic, and vocalic behaviors were rated during five intervals. Change scores from baseline to manipulations shouted numerous differences between high and low involvement, as did correlations between magnitude of involvement and nonverbal behaviors. The behaviors that most strongly discriminated high from low involvement were general kinesic/proxemic attentiveness, forward lean, relaxed laughter, coordinated speech, fewer silences and latencies, and fewer object manipulations. Behaviors most predictive of magnitude of involvement change were facial animation, vocal warmth/interest, deeper pitch, less random movement, and more vocal attentiveness.     

The differential influences of positive affect,random reward,and performance-contingent reward on cognitive control

Growing evidence suggests that positive affect and reward have differential effects on cognitive control. So far, however, these effects have never been studied together. Here, the authors present one behavioral study investigating the influences of positive affect and reward (contingent and noncontingent) on proactive control. A modified version of the AX-continuous performance task, which has repeatedly been shown to be sensitive to reward and affect manipulations, was used. In a first phase, two experimental groups received either neutral or positive affective pictures before every trial. In a second phase, the two halves of a given affect group additionally received, respectively, performance-contingent or random rewards. The results replicated the typical affect effect, in terms of reduced proactive control under positive as compared to neutral affect. Also, the typical reward effects associated with increased proactive control were replicated. Most interestingly, performance-contingent reward counteracted the positive affect effect, whereas random reward mirrored that effect. In sum, this study provides first evidence that performance-contingent reward, on the one hand, and positive affect and performance-noncontingent reward, on the other hand, have oppositional effects on cognitive control: Only performance-contingent reward showed a motivational effect in terms of a strategy shift toward increased proactive control, whereas positive affect alone and performance-noncontingent reward reduced proactive control. Moreover, the integrative design of this study revealed the vulnerability of positive affect effects to motivational manipulations. The results are discussed with respect to current neuroscientific theories of the effects of dopamine on affect, reward, and cognitive control.     

Nonverbal Communication: Information and Application for Counselors

The study of nonverbal communication has generated numerous hypotheses and theories but little that is directly useful to the practitioner. This article discusses the major controversies in the literature to provide an overview of the field. Concepts with practical application are then organized into a suggested model for interpreting nonverbal behavior in the actual counseling setting.