Developmental kinesics: How children acquire communicative and non-communicative nonverbal behavior

This article is a position paper concerning the major issues in the study of children's acquistion of nonverbal behavior. In linguistic theory non-verbal behavior may be considered irrelevant, it may be condsidered the precursor of verbal language, or it may be viewed as an integral part of human communication which is verbal and nonverbal. The author opts for the latter theory. Concerning the relationship between what is innate and what is learned, the paper discusses that nonverbal expression is innate, but culture determines its forms and its uses. The paper then presents a brief history of Developmental Kinesics, explaining its technical difficulties and its methodological complexities. It proceeds by documenting the function of maternal nonverbal behavior towards the neonate. Finally, the paper treats the levels of analysis. A distinction is drawn between communicative and non-communicative nonverbal behavior. Its affective, emotional function relates to ego state; its regulatory function governs face-to-face interaction; and its referential, informative function pertains to the message proper. The child also acquires the non-interactional aspects of body movements which distinguish different peoples. Expression and perception must be studied separately; and finally, nonverbal behavior has to be correlated with verbal behavior and particular attention has to be focused on the double bind.     

不只是“谈话疗法”：精神分析治疗中的非言语维度

精神分析治疗在很长一段时间里被视为“谈话疗法”,其治愈机制是将潜意识的内容意识化,语言解释在其中发挥关键作用。自20世纪末开始,越来越多分析师强调非言语交流在治疗中的作用。非言语交流不仅能够为咨访双方提供更丰富的交流形式,还能通过互动中的“相遇时刻”,实现对患者过去经验的重组,改变其有缺陷的内隐关系知晓。非言语交流和语言交流能够在治疗中发挥互补作用,未来的精神分析心理学要继续加强对非言语领域的研究。     

不只是“谈话疗法”：精神分析治疗中的非言语维度

精神分析治疗在很长一段时间里被视为“谈话疗法”,其治愈机制是将潜意识的内容意识化,语言解释在其中发挥关键作用。自20世纪末开始,越来越多分析师强调非言语交流在治疗中的作用。非言语交流不仅能够为咨访双方提供更丰富的交流形式,还能通过互动中的“相遇时刻”,实现对患者过去经验的重组,改变其有缺陷的内隐关系知晓。非言语交流和语言交流能够在治疗中发挥互补作用,未来的精神分析心理学要继续加强对非言语领域的研究。     

The role of human body movements in mate selection

It is common scientific knowledge, that most of what we say within a conversation is not only expressed by the words' meaning alone, but also through our gestures, postures, and body movements. This non-verbal mode is possibly rooted firmly in our human evolutionary heritage, and as such, some scientists argue that it serves as a fundamental assessment and expression tool for our inner qualities. Studies of nonverbal communication have established that a universal, culture-free, non-verbal sign system exists, that is available to all individuals for negotiating social encounters. Thus, it is not only the kind of gestures and expressions humans use in social communication, but also the way these movements are performed, as this seems to convey key information about an individual's quality. Dance, for example, is a special form of movement, which can be observed in human courtship displays. Recent research suggests that people are sensitive to the variation in dance movements, and that dance performance provides information about an individual's mate quality in terms of health and strength. This article reviews the role of body movement in human non-verbal communication, and highlights its significance in human mate preferences in order to promote future work in this research area within the evolutionary psychology framework.     

Nonverbal communication as a compensative strategy for severely nonfluent aphasics? A quantitative approach

Seven severely nonfluent aphasics and one relative or close friend were investigated in an interview situation. The conversation was videotaped and analyzed for the use of nonverbal communication between aphasic and partner. The results indicate that the group of aphasics used significantly more frequently and for a significantly longer period of time nonverbal channels of communication than their healthy partners. The aphasic patients also used significantly fewer speech-focused movements and significantly more codified gestures. Nonverbal elements were more frequently used as speech substitutes by the group of aphasics.     

Nonverbal communication during the learner lesson with a professional driving instructor: A novel investigation

BackgroundFundamental for the development of the driving and road use skills of the young driver is learning to drive through driving instruction and, in graduated driver licensing programs such as in Australia, driving supervision. In Queensland young drivers are required to log a minimum of 100 h supervised practice, with recent research revealing that parents provide most of this supervision. Queensland also offers young drivers a 10-h 3-for-1 bonus for professional driving instruction, such that one hour of professional instruction can be logged as three hours of practice, to a maximum of 30 logbook hours. Recent research efforts have begun to provide insight into the nature of the verbal instruction of both parents and professional instructors, and into the nonverbal communication between parents and learners. However nothing is known regarding the nonverbal communication between professional instructors and learners.MethodTen learner lessons (five male learners) with four professional instructors (four males) were captured via GoPro cameras. The nonverbal communication during the first, middle, and last 10 min of each lesson was coded as being posture and body orientation, gestures, facial expressions, proximity, humour, and eye contact, within the context of the accompanying verbal communication according to the value of (a) eager, or (b) cautious; the valence of (a) neutral, (b) positive, or (c) negative; and the purpose of (a) rapport, or (b) communication.ResultsOverall, posture and body orientation was the most common mechanism of nonverbal communication, while facial expressions and proximity were the least common mechanisms of nonverbal communication. In general the beginning, the middle, and the end of the lessons were characterised by a plethora of neutral, cautious interactions, and positive, eager interactions. However it is noteworthy that the rates at which learners and instructors engaged in these behaviours were found to change across the lesson. Specifically learners actively communication nonverbally through mechanisms such as eye contact, facial expressions and humour, while instructors appeared to manage building rapport and communicating safe vehicle and road use through nonverbal communication such as gestures, facial expressions and posture and body orientation, summarised in a model comprising a continuum of instruction.DiscussionWhile nonverbal communication is fundamental for effective verbal communication, and on occasion can replace verbal communication, and as such the professional – and the parental – driving lesson should optimise the use of nonverbal communication, at this time the optimal nature of nonverbal communication remains unknown. In addition, optimal verbal and nonverbal communication specifically suited to the driving context which involves a dynamic environment outside the vehicle, and at times a dynamic environment inside the vehicle, remains yet to be identified. The research findings provide unique insight into the nature of the nonverbal communication used by both learner drivers and professional driving instructors, in addition to the continuum of instruction model. As such, the findings provide a solid foundation for future research into, and guidance regarding, optimising the learner driving lesson.     

Effects of relative immobilization on the speaker's nonverbal behavior and on the dialogue imagery level

People generally display an important amount of gestural and motoric activity when speaking. Since recent data have shown the limits of an explanation of this activity in terms of nonverbal or bodily communication, the present study attempted to explore what would happen if subjects were impeded from making the principal movements they normally perform during a conversation. Subjects were led to hold a 50-minute conversation while sitting in an armchair devised to restrain their movements of the head, arms, hands, legs, and feet during part of the experiment. The main dependent variables consisted of nonverbal activity in body zones that remained free to vary: eyebrows, eyes, mouth, and fingers. During the phase of movement restriction, highly significant increases in activity were recorded in these zones, with subsequent return to base levels when the subject recovered free movements. Also, significant interactions of conditions of movements and subject's conversational role (speaker vs. listener) were observed for most of the variables. Samples of dialogues submitted to a computerized technique of content analysis revealed a significant decrease in the vividness of imagery during movement restriction.     

交流手势认知理论

手势是交流互动中一种重要的非语言媒介, 手势不仅可以辅助语言交流而且具有独立的交流性; 作为和语言共同发生的非语言媒介, 手势交流有助于降低交流认知负荷。文章重点归纳和述评了基于手势和语言表达关系的交流手势理论、交流手势激活理论、交流手势的认知节省理论。未来研究需要进一步考虑交流手势实验研究情境自然性和控制严格性间的平衡, 交流手势和其他非语言因素间的关系, 交流手势认知研究的现实意义。     

AMAB: Automated measurement and analysis of body motion

Technologies that measure human nonverbal behavior have existed for some time, and their use in the analysis of social behavior has become more popular following the development of sensor technologies that record full-body movement. However, a standardized methodology to efficiently represent and analyze full-body motion is absent. In this article, we present automated measurement and analysis of body motion (AMAB), a methodology for examining individual and interpersonal nonverbal behavior from the output of full-body motion tracking systems. We address the recording, screening, and normalization of the data, providing methods for standardizing the data across recording condition and across subject body sizes. We then propose a series of dependent measures to operationalize common research questions in psychological research. We present practical examples from several application areas to demonstrate the efficacy of our proposed method for full-body measurements and comparisons across time, space, body parts, and subjects.     

Embodied Pedagogy: The Body and Teaching Theology

This essay is a reflection on my own experience of teaching undergraduates in light of research on proxemics (social and personal space) and kinesics (body language). I discuss ways to structure classroom space to encourage interaction and discussion, using Edward Hall's distinctions between three types of space (fixed feature, semi‐fixed feature, and informal). I explain the importance of body language in verbal communication and describe how I use my own body to illustrate and reinforce what I say in class. I then offer strategies to incorporate students' bodies in the learning process. I conclude by arguing that embodied pedagogy calls us to look beyond the classroom and to acknowledge the importance of our bodies in all aspects of our lives.     

Children's Verbal and Nonverbal Congruent and Incongruent Communication During Parent–Child Interactions

While the field of verbal and nonverbal congruent and incongruent communication has gained increasing interest in recent years, research in this area regarding children has received considerably less attention. This article presents diverse patterns of children's verbal and nonverbal interrelationships of congruent–incongruent communication. The study used a mixed multivariate design to analyze parent–child interactions (n = 160) in structured joint game sequences, filmed in their homes. The findings explain children's incongruent communication patterns (ICP) and reveal the effects of social and situational factors, including child's and parent's gender, socioeconomic status, and task difficulty. The study expands the theoretical and methodological research regarding ICP. The proposed model provides composite theoretical perspectives regarding children's congruence–incongruence interconnections of verbal and nonverbal communication.     

Managing Face Concerns in Criticism Integrating Nonverbal Behaviors as a Dimension of Politeness in Female Friendship Dyads

This study seeks to expand politeness theory by investigating the influence of nonverbal behaviors on facework in criticism of a friend. As hypothesized, various cues, including variations in vocal tone, facial expressions and brow movements, gestures, body orientation, and touch, influenced participants' perceptions of politeness in a number of ways. First, mitigating nonverbal behaviors added to assessments of politeness when accompanied by bald-on-record linguistic politeness strategies. Second, subjects perceived aggravating nonverbal cues with and without linguistic politeness similarly. Although verbal politeness was still the bigger factor in perceptions of politeness, the results of this study suggest that facework scholars should also consider how something is said as salient for interpretation of what is said.     

交流手势的认知特征

手势是语言交流过程中的一种重要的非语言媒介, 其不仅与语言互动间的关系密切, 而且具有不同的交流认知特征。文章重点归纳和述评了手势和语言交流的关系, 手势相对独立的交流特征, 教育情境中的手势交流。文章具体提出：首先, 手势和语言的共同表达促进了语言的发生和语言的理解、整合和记忆; 其次, 手势一定程度上具有独立的交流性, 手势和语言的“不匹配性”反映了交流信息的变化和交流认知的改变; 最后, 教育情境中教师的手势表达可以引导学生的注意并澄清语言信息, 学生的手势交流有助于促进学习认知过程。未来研究需要进一步探讨手势对于语言交流功能的影响, 语言交流过程中手势交流的优势特征和认知机制, 教育情境中手势交流高效性的认知机制, 手势交流的影响因素、一般特征和个体差异。     

Beyond the word in psychoanalysis the unspoken dialogue

The practice of psychoanalysis, traditionally, has privileged verbal communication. In relational theory the therapeutic significance of unconscious, semantically unformulated, but nonverbally encoded communications has been recognized. While patients are understood to generate significant nonverbal material for use in the treatment process, similar nonverbal productions from analysts rarely have been acknowledged as useful for treatment. In this paper, I demonstrate a way to recognize and use the nonverbal productions of analysts as well as of analysands within the analytic process. A brief review is offered of contemporary authors who have conceptualized the importance of the nonverbal realm for psychoanalytic treatment. An approach is then described that builds on process conceptualizations derived from the infant research literature. The model, illustrated with two clinical examples, provides a way of conceptualizing “process contours”; on a nonverbal level of exchange between analyst and analysand that becomes the medium for catalyzing the transition from presymbolic interactions to symbolic language. Working on this level, analyst and analysand coconstruct scenes from both the dreaded past and the hoped‐for present/future, which, when reflected on in a joint process of narrative construction, provide a new context for accessing previously dissociated affective experience.     

Child Compliance and Congruity between Verbal and Nonverbal Maternal Communication — A Methodological Note

This paper is a report of a study of congruity between verbal and nonverbal maternal communication with sons during two 30-minute sessions. The instructions to the mothers varied for the two sessions by increasing the time the mother was asked to spend on a brain teaser game and by decreasing the number of play materials available for the sons in the second session. The two sessions were videotaped through a one-way mirror and rated independently for maternal verbal and nonverbal communicaiton and child compliance. Mothers differed for the two sessions in their communication with their sons. The study demonstrated that maternal nonverbal communication, as well as verbal communication, can be reliably measured through use of videotape recording.     

Case illustration of a boy with nonverbal learning disorder and Asperger's features: neuropsychological and personality assessment

I present a case study of a latency-age boy referred for assessment of a nonverbal learning disability/disorder (NLD) who also had features of Asperger's syndrome (AS). I review NLD terminology, presumed brain-behavior relationship, neuropsychological profile, and diagnosis/classification issues. I discuss the challenge of differentiating NLD from AS in relation to the client's pattern of visual-spatial, communication, social-emotional, and behavioral NLD correlates. I integrate neuropsychological and personality assessment data with interviews, observations, prior testing, and input from teacher and therapist in formulating a diagnostic impression. I discuss Rorschach (Exner, 2003) and neuropsychological consultations in relation to subtle language and interpersonal features of the client's communication style. I provide parent feedback at 18 and 24 months posttesting. I discuss implications relative to a model of school neuropsychological assessment that includes the Rorschach test.     

Are the accessory facial movements of the stutterer learned behaviours?

The purpose of the present study was to explore the accessory nonverbal behaviours emitted by stutterers when their speech was fluent, normally disfluent, or stuttered. Subjects were 25 stutterers who were required to speak spontaneously for a 2-min. period. Seven types of nonverbal behavior were observed. Significant differences among the three speech categories were obtained for jaw movements, mouth movements, forehead movements, eyebrow movements, and head movements. Eyelid movements and eye blinks were nonsignificant. The results are discussed with respect to the various functions that can be attributed to nonverbal behaviour in stuttering.     

Getting Down to Business Talk,Gaze, and Body Orientation During Openings of Doctor-Patient Consultations

This study examines the openings of British general-practice medical consultations. The authors use conversation analysis to analyze how doctors' and patients' practices of gaze and body orientation organize interaction such that doctors routinely initiate the sequence wherein patients disclose their chief complaint. Gaze and body orientation communicate levels of engagement with and disengagement from courses of action. As doctors and patients accomplish regular tasks preparatory to dealing with patients'chief complaints, doctors use gaze and body orientation to communicate that they are preparing but are not yet ready to deal with those compkints. In response, patients wait for their doctors to solicit their chief complaint. These findings have implications for research on nonverbal communication, interactional asymmetry, and power.     

Nonverbal channel use in communication of emotion: how may depend on why

This study investigated the hypothesis that different emotions are most effectively conveyed through specific, nonverbal channels of communication: body, face, and touch. Experiment 1 assessed the production of emotion displays. Participants generated nonverbal displays of 11 emotions, with and without channel restrictions. For both actual production and stated preferences, participants favored the body for embarrassment, guilt, pride, and shame; the face for anger, disgust, fear, happiness, and sadness; and touch for love and sympathy. When restricted to a single channel, participants were most confident about their communication when production was limited to the emotion's preferred channel. Experiment 2 examined the reception or identification of emotion displays. Participants viewed videos of emotions communicated in unrestricted and restricted conditions and identified the communicated emotions. Emotion identification in restricted conditions was most accurate when participants viewed emotions displayed via the emotion's preferred channel. This study provides converging evidence that some emotions are communicated predominantly through different nonverbal channels. Further analysis of these channel-emotion correspondences suggests that the social function of an emotion predicts its primary channel: The body channel promotes social-status emotions, the face channel supports survival emotions, and touch supports intimate emotions.